Elf Replica (Talisman to Ward Off Love)

Elf Replica (Talisman to Ward Off Love) 12"x9"; Magic the Gathering Card, porn from Fred Bookhardt’s estate sale, fishing and hunting magazines; 2026 Type: Collage Elf Replica (Talisman to Ward Off Love) explores authenticity, protection, and the impulse to retreat. The work begins with the idea of a replica: something almost true, but not quite allowed to be itself. In thinking about boyhood, therapy, and the consuming nature of love, the collage asks what parts of the self are hidden away in caves, forests, fantasy, or desire. The Magic card becomes a talisman for fight-or-flight, a small object that can be sacrificed to destroy an enchantment. Here, love is the enchantment, or perhaps the fear of being seen inside it. Through erotica, landscape, childhood fantasy, and fragments of play, the work questions how much of ourselves we conceal or reproduce in the pursuit of love.