Background

Like so many great things, The IMA Gallery bubbled out of a joke. I had been making feeble attempts to incorporate a concept I love, liminality, into my artwork. It had manifested itself into a small gallery space that I would leave in “in-between” urban spaces around town. They would provide a space where no artist or viewer would be intimidated, since the spaces were so small. They would be ephemeral and adorable. And mostly stupid.

As I struggled with the ineffectualness of this particular approach, my friend, Derrick Velasquez, jokingly suggested that I wear the gallery on my head like a hat. I knew immediately that it was sheer genius. And I proceeded to take the joke much further than most jokes should go.

Thanks to the guidance of Michael Mercil and Laura Lisbon, among other wise voices, I came to the conclusion that I was allowed to take the joke seriously. Quite seriously. I decided to pursue the creation not just of a gallery on top of my head, but on other spaces on my body. I also began the process of incorporating myself as a business. And thus was born The IMA Gallery.