I see art as not only passively waiting to be perceived, but also interacting, surprising, and appearing in the public domain outside of the structures designed to contain it.  In my exploration of freedom from these structures, I find myself trying to make connections between power and the struggles for it;  between order and chaos.  

 

I’m interested in the effect that our power as human beings has on our environment.  I often incorporate the vernacular materials of the world that surrounds me; plastic bags, discarded wood and metal, concrete, as well as bags and boxes used in packaging.  These materials represent our intrusion into and manipulation of the natural world as we attempt to control and project our will upon it.  They also reflect our patterns of consumption and disposal.  My latest body of work is made up of cast concrete forms which serve as representations of the world as containers filled to capacity.  Each collection of shapes sits waiting for the turbulence that will disrupt its order; a fragile balance that’s perpetually on the verge of collapse.  I’m interested in this innate struggle between civilization and nature.   As the human world expands, it often destroys through overbuilding and over consuming. Nature fights back against our presence, overwriting and breaking apart our fabricated forms. I am attracted to concrete because of its potential for having a long life cycle, its reference to a broad range of construction from industrial bridges to yard art and its reference to the literal foundations of our physical human presence.  Often times, when a building is abandoned, all that remains is a vine-covered slab of concrete.  These are the artifacts of our time.  For this reason,  these pieces are designed to be viewed both inside a gallery space as well as outside.  I envision versions pristine and preserved in a gallery while others sit out in nature, perhaps weather-worn and covered in vines, waiting to be either rediscovered or reclaimed by nature.