The first in this series of full sized begging figures made from materials found within 100 yards of the road's edge, Roadside Bum #1 speaks to spiritual poverty within our US culture of objects and money. The interplay of true economic poverty and otherworldly wealth makes the space on the roads edge into an oddly empty and disturbingly central US dreamscape. The paved road, as an organizing and connecting tissue of petro-chemical culture, US culture, and global culture, is central to these sculptures. These figures are meant to capture the feeling of standing in the presence of needs that will not be met as an essential experience of here and now. They recognize that our chemical environment, clean, dirty or a mix of both makes us, down to the composition of our cells, who we are.