Artist Statement
I work with aesthetics, abstraction, and spatial assemblage. I simplify forms to discover their essential nature.
In his Theory of Forms, Plato presents the idea that all things have an ideal form. These forms are not of man’s earthly world; every real thing is less than its ideal. This world of Plato’s intrigues me. It is a beautiful otherworldly space, without gravity or complication. It is the space I have persistently explored and curated in my artmaking. I build spaces that allow entities encountered in our world to evolve and become not of our world, where their lightness and simplicity can be seen in a purer form.
The shapes in my artwork are designed to balance delicately between the identifiable and the imagined. Color itself is regarded as a “thing”, unified with shape, chosen for its fitting nature in accord with a particular form. The ideal red becomes one with the ideal red sphere. The forms, built of paper or wood, thin and light, are material objects with a necessary physicality to them. There are forms of birds, trees, and boats: a menagerie of entities. These shapes are arranged in an atmospheric setting, an unconfined space. Here, a soft blue can be quietly honored, a boat can float without water.
My assemblages of forms draw forward traces of imagery from the viewer’s known world. A blue shape is observed while simultaneously an idea of “bird” presents itself. Sight avails the mind naturally to observe and associate; it brings characterization to what is seen. A visual association, or a title, guides the viewer’s attention, allowing it to settle on what they see before them. This affords a richer experience of the less tangible aesthetic elements: color, placement, and their interaction. A sense of place, a “color-scape” evolves. The viewer engages in a visual world, one removed from their own.