short artist statement
I am extremely interested in the production and reception of information. Particularly, how romanticized notions about the world come into fruition. Vernaculars of representation like; movie sets, museum display, amateur model making, and the fairy tale, come together to form a visual vocabulary which question the “impossibility of the sublime”. Can we come to an elevated notion of nature through representations of it? How about coming to terms with social/moral issues through the allegories of the fairy tale, or even enlightenment through the museum artifact?
I often position implied narratives through a “frozen moment in time” with birds falling (frozen in mid air), or elegantly placing a sheet over a dead body. The work seems to be telling a story while talking about how the story is being told. This is done through exposing the mechanisms of display. Hardware, which supports a taxidermy bird is exaggerated and highlighted, along with the fiberglass guts of the taxidermy. These pseudo-narratives are often paradoxical and absurd, humorous while being disturbing, and cartoonish yet real. Theatrical lighting plays with the notion of a staged set as a means to adding the simulacra to the recipe, as if the romantic notions about the world are presuppositions to the sciences.
I often wonder how notions of nature, on a social level, may interact with actual scientific research. My work is fuelled by a strong interest in the History of Philosophy of Science and the semiotic shift from actually being in the world to investigating the world and finally, to re-presenting it. My objects are simultaneously an illusion and a healthy symbol (the real thing). They are a question for me. Being able to live and walk through these questions is the way I make sense of how I personally experience it and how it is presented to me.
I often position implied narratives through a “frozen moment in time” with birds falling (frozen in mid air), or elegantly placing a sheet over a dead body. The work seems to be telling a story while talking about how the story is being told. This is done through exposing the mechanisms of display. Hardware, which supports a taxidermy bird is exaggerated and highlighted, along with the fiberglass guts of the taxidermy. These pseudo-narratives are often paradoxical and absurd, humorous while being disturbing, and cartoonish yet real. Theatrical lighting plays with the notion of a staged set as a means to adding the simulacra to the recipe, as if the romantic notions about the world are presuppositions to the sciences.
I often wonder how notions of nature, on a social level, may interact with actual scientific research. My work is fuelled by a strong interest in the History of Philosophy of Science and the semiotic shift from actually being in the world to investigating the world and finally, to re-presenting it. My objects are simultaneously an illusion and a healthy symbol (the real thing). They are a question for me. Being able to live and walk through these questions is the way I make sense of how I personally experience it and how it is presented to me.
Digging a little deeper:
My work is ultimately a physical manifestation of intuitive questions I have towards myself and the world around me. It is fueled by a strong interest in the history of Philosophy of Science, particularly, the production and reception of information. I explore the modes and methodologies of systems of knowledge (display/reception), particularly complex systems like History, Psychology, and Nature, through the affect of abjection. Being able to live and walk through these questions is the way I make sense of them.
Critical inquires and explorations are made through a diverse range of mediums and methods. Sculpture and sound are the tools I use most often. Narratives are implied through frozen moments like; taxidermy birds crashing into birdhouses/electrical wires or construction workers falling into walls. These are presented in a manner that is disturbing yet humorous at the same time. This “in-between” place is what really interests me. I see my installation work as Habitat Dioramas of systemic concepts. These contemporary habitat dioramas play with Brechtian ideas of theater. My absurdly and over dramatized dioramas are, in my mind, a theatre or stage which question the very nature of knowledge exchange. What is; fact/fiction, materiality/illusion, static/dynamic?
I explore these issues through alternative modes of presentation as well. Intricate scale models produced specifically for photograph, ask questions regarding how we experience re-presentation, documentation, and artifact. Complex abstractions of psychology, circular logic and Foucaulian ideas are all brought from language to reality through personified objects like carceral continuatus. (Carceral continuatus is a walking sculpture made of security cameras aimed at each other. The movement of the cameras, and the entire sculpture, is triggered by it’s own movement. There is no on/off switch. It has to be stored in a light tight box due to its solar panels)
The rigid structures, which define the validity of exploration for many fields of investigation, are a major concern of mine. My work attempts to break open the mold of the specialist by mixing and matching methodologies between the sciences, arts, humanities and linguistics. The peer to peer pedagogical performances (TABLE PROJECT) instigate between participants an attempt, to not only find new connections between these fields, but also help restructure how I personally navigate the rhizomatic world we live in.
Fields like philosophy, physics and taxonomy are defined by the very models of investigation they entail. My interests lie in the questions I have toward the presupposition/foundations of these methods and a need to step outside of them. Art is defined by an expanding field of methodologies and definitions. The work is ultimately a physical manifestation of my research. My investigation is not focused so much on the nature of things, but on our ideas about the nature of things. What is the Social or artifactual role, in understanding the world around us?
Critical inquires and explorations are made through a diverse range of mediums and methods. Sculpture and sound are the tools I use most often. Narratives are implied through frozen moments like; taxidermy birds crashing into birdhouses/electrical wires or construction workers falling into walls. These are presented in a manner that is disturbing yet humorous at the same time. This “in-between” place is what really interests me. I see my installation work as Habitat Dioramas of systemic concepts. These contemporary habitat dioramas play with Brechtian ideas of theater. My absurdly and over dramatized dioramas are, in my mind, a theatre or stage which question the very nature of knowledge exchange. What is; fact/fiction, materiality/illusion, static/dynamic?
I explore these issues through alternative modes of presentation as well. Intricate scale models produced specifically for photograph, ask questions regarding how we experience re-presentation, documentation, and artifact. Complex abstractions of psychology, circular logic and Foucaulian ideas are all brought from language to reality through personified objects like carceral continuatus. (Carceral continuatus is a walking sculpture made of security cameras aimed at each other. The movement of the cameras, and the entire sculpture, is triggered by it’s own movement. There is no on/off switch. It has to be stored in a light tight box due to its solar panels)
The rigid structures, which define the validity of exploration for many fields of investigation, are a major concern of mine. My work attempts to break open the mold of the specialist by mixing and matching methodologies between the sciences, arts, humanities and linguistics. The peer to peer pedagogical performances (TABLE PROJECT) instigate between participants an attempt, to not only find new connections between these fields, but also help restructure how I personally navigate the rhizomatic world we live in.
Fields like philosophy, physics and taxonomy are defined by the very models of investigation they entail. My interests lie in the questions I have toward the presupposition/foundations of these methods and a need to step outside of them. Art is defined by an expanding field of methodologies and definitions. The work is ultimately a physical manifestation of my research. My investigation is not focused so much on the nature of things, but on our ideas about the nature of things. What is the Social or artifactual role, in understanding the world around us?
