| STATEMENT | ||
The process of organizing the unfamiliar is central to my work, which encompasses sculpture, drawing and painting. My method, a conceptually intuitive one, has led to executions across several themes. Linking them all is the context of a transformational process. Additionally, visual connection exists through the use of grid, which appears in nearly every piece, whether subtle or overt. Psychologically, the grid creates order and makes what is not presentable presentable. The grid defines a structure and holds together relationships that seem to be tenuous.
My most recent project, an investigation of the rabbit, stems from a curiosity about the many ways rabbits are seen or not seen in our culture. In effect, the rabbit becomes a proxy for the multiple encounters and judgments that take place within common human experience.
Sculptural abstractions, a group of hydrocal forms, stem from my interest in architecture and furniture. These pieces are connected to ideas of home, its presence or its absence.
The series that I call “Drain Works” are inspired by my familiarity with the intricacies of design and engineering of wastewater systems. Additionally, human emotions-anxiety, fatigue and weariness-can all be drained, or not. Drains are gateways, and therefore represent new beginnings, whether wanted or not.
A study of fatigue (related to the drain pieces) led to another series that is pillow-like. These pieces convey the restlessness of the everyday. “Wall Pillows” are hand-stitched fabric over a wire grid. “Floor Pillows,” made of hydrocal and wire, are heavy and hard. Although seductive in appearance, they firmly deny comfort and rest.
Within the setting of the sculptural works, drawings interact as external elements which pose questions-and offer responses. In the vertical plane, there is perspectival remove, which forces the three-dimensional objects to inhabit a continually shifting, unfamiliar terrain. A dialogue takes place, and transformation occurs from the viewpoint of the outsider. Moods are dramatized, and messages achieve clarity as the relationships shift. Becoming lifelike, all forms behave as one, even though they remain entirely separate.