sculpture + drawing
These contraption-looking things are part of (or outgrowths of) my Renovated Flightless Devices series and play off the forms and function of tools, toys, boats, and, perhaps, military equipment. These process-oriented works take a winding path to completion, evolving from continuously redrawn sketches and traveling through many transformations before being cut apart, reassembled, and reworked. Parts are often transplanted, left behind, or recycled. Through this method of construction and reconstruction, I am able to intuitively build and then, at a later time, make necessary changes.
Curious inspection and patient observation reveal previously unseen drawings and room-like interiors, many with small chairs and ladders “left over” from previous inhabitants. These things have handles, openings, drawn symbols, and moveable parts, but like the mystery of a ritual object from a broken-down culture, the physical or metaphorical functions are left to the imagination. In an increasingly commercialized, displaced society, I’m attempting to build slow, somewhat clumsy, objects that reveal a layered history.
Raft for __________ (with Infected Systems Drawing) is the most recent permutation of a work that has been slowly transforming for many years and continues my experimentation with connecting the sculptures to wall drawings. My hope is that viewers to fill in the blank and finish the narrative for themselves. Who inhabited this craft and from what were they fleeing?