Artist Statement
I am drawn to the idea & aesthetic of decay. The fact that, whether we like it or not, everything is changing, breaking down; this is the law of entropy. Entropy is time’s arrow in the physical world. I am consequently fascinated with archaeology, particularly the archaeology of tomorrow, or what I like to call “Fantasy Archeology” or “Our future’s past”.
My entire life I have imagined how our creations, our physical made world will decay over time, over thousands of years. I’m imagining what appears to be so permanent, so reliably stable to us, in the scenario of its disintegration. This inspires the making of objects, of sculptures. Often combined with my material of choice, concrete, all sorts of detritus make their way into the process: castings of matchbox cars, life casts of people, deer bones, toy airplanes, old spy detective novels, antique guns, religious icons, scrap metal, gears, cogwheels, car parts, native pottery and arrowheads. The found objects themselves form a language through which I express these ideas.
My work has evolved from a childhood fascination with urban ruins, graveyards of technology, industrial archaeology, obsolete machinery, abandoned buildings, ghost towns & shipwrecks. These influences are tempered by my recent years of living in the woods, which have introduced organic elements of the cycle of life & death, natural, human & animal forms.
I approach art making with a desire to provide a visceral experience of the impermanence of technology & the gradual & inevitable breaking down of our synthetic world by natural forces. I am particularly interested in exploring our identity as humans through history & evolution: with the influence of nature, technology, culture & religion.
Working with industrial & natural materials I transform what I see into objects & environments of aesthetic & raw expression.