Artist Statement
My work is analogous to science fiction. I create visual stories through my choice and use of various materials, images, and objects. My narratives are not usually intended to conjure literal associations, but instead to stir an emotion or lead to an understanding. By illustrating simple relationships (this precedes that, or this births that, or this consumes that) I can refer to the natural cycles on which we are all dependent. In the way that science fiction points toward future or alternate realities my work takes ideas that are familiar and uses them to suggest new possibilities, discoveries, ideas and innovations.
My inspiration comes from both the natural and manmade world. I use a wide variety of imagery including, molecules, bones, planets, maps, machines, and structures. I use organic materials such as clay and wood and juxtapose them with synthetic materials such as paint, fiberglass, plastic, foam, and vinyl to get a product that shares qualities with the many different subjects I explore. These subjects may include but are not limited to extinction, expansion, destruction, exploration, and innovation.
I use spontaneous and intuitive processes as well as mathematical and precise methods to develop my work and strengthen my images’ validity. For example, by building intuitively I can express ideas of city sprawl or cancerous growth in an organic way. By constructing mathematically I can communicate thoughts of mechanical production or molecular bonding in a precise way. I believe that the meaning of an object should be directly linked to its realization.
For me a finished work includes multiple objects and images, each individual piece being a chapter in the narrative. Although my work is playful in its execution and materiality it incorporates the serious and complicated relationships we humans have with nature, time, and reality. It is my goal to make work that is highly accessible and thought provoking that excites the imagination and leads viewers to question.