I started working on this task awhile ago, but held off on planting it in its outdoor location until after the recent weeklong storm passed.

I constructed a strange, dead beast from the detritus of two of my previous tasks: Furtive Interiors and RAoK/SAoB2. Plus some printed-on paper (test results for some of the kids I tutor and the new Alex Galloway article, which I know seems pretentious and over-art-y, but I had just read it and basically wanted to reuse it instead of using brand new paper, sorry about that), purple spraypaint, and gold paint.

I made the sort of body/ribcage out of the metal from RAoK/SAoB2 and covered it with the fake leopard, blue zebra, and fluffy black fur from Furtive Interiors. I kept most of the ribcage exposed to give the sense that this thing had been lying on the side of the road so long its entrails have been almost entirely bared by the elements/other animals feeding on it. The entrails, of course, were made of purple-and-gold-painted crumpled up paper, and sort of exploded out of the metal mesh (I hope). I added big, empty, sad, black holes of eyes and a very long tail. I also never attached the head to the body; I think it's better that way.

Once I had made this animal (my ex-boyfriend, upon seeing it in my room, asked whether I was "building a cat"), I needed to decide where to put it. I didn't want to just stick it on the streets of SF somewhere because I didn't think it would really seem like roadkill if I left it on the sidewalk near my house. That left more "natural" spots. Golden Gate Park also seemed too tame. The Presidio, however, was the perfect combination of being well-trafficked by cars, joggers, and bikers, and also seeming magical enough that it might produce this creature. So tonight, at sundown, I placed my roadkill near the WWII Memorial to Missing Soldiers, with a view of the Pacific Ocean, next to a jogging path and the road.

No one talked to me while I was installing the roadkill; however, I was inspired to make the scene even more surreal by adding a giant candy cane I've been keeping in my trunk since last summer, certain that it would come in handy some day. I found it in one of Turrell's skyspaces at the De Young museum. It clearly wasn't part of the artwork, so I TOOK IT FOR MY OWN GAIN. I think it worked out well here.