Artist Statement

My sculptures are conglomerate formations of the stuff I find in my studio. I see these things (whether found, purchased, made, harvested, or acquired for personal use) as residue: residue of lives lived and actions performed, residue of systems and cultures, residue of thoughts and beliefs. For example, engineered products are the material manifestation of our dedication to the notion of “progress.” Natural materials such as clay, water, and iron are wrought by geological forces and thereby reference deep time. As I assemble my materials, they bring along their history with all its consequences. In this way, the sculptures become pile-ups of physical and mental forms that are forced to meet and grapple with one another. As with any forced cohabitation, some of the elements find harmony with their neighbors while others produce conflict or contradiction. Some a tense silence.

My process entails feeling through materials by connecting their history with my personal history, emotions, and intellectual interests. In doing so, I leverage my background in art, architecture, and aerospace engineering as well as the disorienting experience of growing up in an alcoholic home. As a result, industrial methods and materials contrast and contend with my intimate, personal realities. The resulting sculpture may be emotional, funny, serious, and ironic at the same time.

Throughout my work, a recurring theme is loss without absence — an experience that relates to growing up with addiction as well as the precarity of our current moment, in which everything feels dire yet commonplace.