My mixed-media sculpture is rooted in materiality and contradiction, with the intransigent physicality of objects standing in counterpoint to the ephemeral nature of intention. By combining the human form with human-made components, wishful thinking is manifested as a tinkerer’s bootstrap transfigurations. Clay becomes analog for flesh, a referent that exists through myriad cultures and ties human identity to its primal origins. I supplement this with metals for their aesthetics, for their useful physical properties, and for their deep association with the course of human civilization. Consider how tacitly we accept the notion of an ‘iron age’ or ‘bronze age’ as shorthand for the broad sweep of an entire historical epoch. Metals exist in nature, but it is the working of metal that defines it through use, and the making of things which, for better or worse, has become a defining trait of our humanity.
The human hand and arm are the images at the core of my work, as the most basic and essential of our tools, the ‘original equipment’ levers by which might we move our world. Human-made constructs represent a ‘do-it-yourself’ apotheosis; a refusal to be subject to the gods, fate or circumstance. I use this imagery to suggest a ‘self-made self’ – the bootstrap creation of a higher existence built on cockeyed optimism and elbow grease, assembled at some workbench of the soul. Contradictions are rife; elevation and limitation may not be truly separable.
The ‘Armature’ series presents the metaphor of engineering as a deeply rooted human endeavor: a means to create the reality we desire. In principle, it represents a rational approach to practical goals. Often, however, engineering becomes an outward expression of less tangible, inchoate aspirations, in which the practice of making is elided with the process of becoming.
My newest work is the 'Botanicals' series. It is still developing and finding its voice, but it feels critically important at this point in history, to address the relationship between human beings and our created environment, and the natural environment of the planet which hosts us. The human presence has left an indelible mark, but it is our task to find a rapprochement - a common ground - for coexistence and growth.
