The Origin & Future of the Blood

The 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal spent his life working on what was to be a comprehensive defense of Christianity. The work was never completed, and what remained upon his death was a box-full of scraps and sometimes sheets of notes. The fragments assembled by editors and called the “Pensées” range from brilliant stand-alone aphorisms to lengthy apologies for Christian doctrine; from the parsing of Biblical minutiae to puzzling pronouncements. The “Origin & Future of the Blood” is a series of responses to Pascal, specifically to what I see as the big issues of being human: passions, reason, religion, knowledge, spirituality, social behavior, existentialism, time, etc. The project moved through a number of materials and phases, including a guerilla installation of sculptures in Portland, Oregon.