36"x20"x1.5"; laser cut and engraved plywood and white oak veneer with paint; 2025

Sainted Cruiser with Holy Handkerchief is a material and spiritual exploration of laser burning as both image-making and ritual. The work adapts a photograph taken during a leather night at Dix, a local gay bar in Milwaukee, merging a white short-sleeved shirt, black tie, black trousers, and a leather harness into a self-declared icon: the Sainted Cruiser. The figure stands as someone who has reached, or is reaching, queer enlightenment and is poised to evangelize sexual freedom as a sacred pursuit.

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The arched form contains two integrated panels. Below, a laser-burned self-portrait in white oak sits against a plywood ground, its scorched surface emphasizing grain, shadow, and bodily presence. Above, the Holy Handkerchief radiates outward in a fan of carefully aligned wood segments. Through engraving and directional grain placement, the panel recreates the folds, drape, and softness of fabric within rigid material. Together, the Romanesque arch and modern restraint frame cruising as devotion, transforming erotic code into sanctified iconography.