This artwork was created by Casado during his fellowship residency at Vermont Studio Center.

Excerpt from essay by Ona Mirkinson:

“In what seems to be a different series, but still under the same title and concept, there is a nude male figure, being shattered with bullets, accepting wounds to the back with seemingly little consequence. After the first hit, the figure evens straightens his posture in a subtle gesture that implies he is ready, willing, and able to stand firm and unscathed in spite of the onslaught. 

The figure’s physical reactions, two hands reaching around to knead the unharmed flesh around the abrasions indicate a sense of self-soothing resistance—the figure acknowledges the assault but sits firm. In this way, while the nudity represents vulnerability, the hands moving over flesh communicate strength, a strength infused with self-possession and a sense of poised eroticism. In the end the figure rises up from his perch unscathed, his wounds released from his back and traveled up to a white wall. In this way, an assault on flesh bypasses its intended target and becomes art. Again Casado’s tongue teases us from the flesh of his cheek. The sheer ridiculousness of it all becomes tangible, perceptible, and undeniable.”