Artist Statement
I would describe my practice by
analogy to alchemy in the sense that I am seeking to derive the redemptive
substance from base matter. This partially explains why I often use waste as a
medium in my artworks. While I also use paints, their value distinction becomes
lost when contrasted with the detritus around them while simultaneously uplifting
what was formerly perceived as trash to a higher standard of value. I like to
use video documentation in part to preserve works that are too large to store.
The other utility of video is to emphasize the transformation taking place
which I would describe as the materialization of spirit through spiritualizing
matter. In this sense the video preserves the metaphysical substrate of the
work and simulates an echo of the ephemeral and transitory experience a viewer has
through their perception of artwork in physical space. Meanwhile the physical
art object itself often disintegrates back into trash from whence it came. This
process is reflective of the life of the commodity, wherein an assemblage of
base matter is brought together to produce a consumptive experience and leaves
behind its shell of base matter once more in the form of garbage.
When it comes to process I try to work as much as possible through intuition. I
try to work beyond the constraints of convention with an emphasis on the
experimental. I approach my working materials with a non-discriminatory
openness to create a diverse amalgamation of medium and matter where the whole
is greater than the individual parts.