“A survivor has to be part monkey, part mountain goat, part pack mule, and a little squirrelly in the head.” (paraphrased from popular Mechanics Magazine, October, 1949).
I am retractable like a lounge chair. I live part (or most) of my life inside a world I’ve created in my head as an ever-changing character. I am the detail in a complex process, the minutiae of a vast system beyond my understanding. That is my art - that is where it comes from.
My ideas start with a curiosity. I turn them into words and definitions, and map these out to get a better verbal understanding of my thoughts (and a better understanding of words). I then find images that go along the same lines, often coming up with images I had never thought of before. Through books, old magazines, image searches, journalizing ideas, etc., I research topics that have something to do with what is floating around in my head. I keep every scrap of notes, records, images - anything I have produced - and compile them into a journal or book.
I am inspired by things that we often abandon as we grow up. I am inspired by humor, playfulness, the ridiculous – mechanized, interactive, fun creations. I am inspired by tall-tales of adventures, characters, faces and eyes; gliders (airplanes), ships, motor cars and trains; gears, pulleys, linkages, cranks, and manual machines; maps and diagrams; definitions and words; catalogues with detailed recordings; goggles, old pilot helmets, oxygen masks; compasses and navigation devices; parachutes, enclosed spaces like a cockpit; windmills, old movie projectors, hoists, harnesses, tree houses and pillow and blanket forts; military uniforms and gear – minus any weapons; clocks and timepieces; taking things apart and putting them back together – my way. I am influenced by the romantic idea of an inventor – stumbling upon an idea, researching it, documenting it in detail, then twisting it – noting any peculiarities (real or imagined), and incorporating a bit of humor or whimsy. I’m gravitated toward the eccentric, the reclusive person that thinks up things and makes them happen (thinking inside the head of the possibilities not seen by others and trying to make them realities).
For me, art is a way of life, an adventure of those moments when something happens, connections are made and everything seems to make sense. Most of my work is not so much about subject matter as it is about learning things, documenting things, and acquiring skills. It is about my obsessive and meticulous process of recording every step. I often incorporate some type of manually-operated mechanical feature in my work. I’m fascinated by how all the pieces work together in such a concise manner to create the greater function of the whole. On a personal level, it is a means of containing my fidgety behavior – like a jar for fireflies. My art revolves around the highs and lows of discovery, adventure, and chance. In my drawings, I create a scene that is built upon a fantastical place of its very own - a place evolved from everyday connections, be it of experiences, objects, or ideas; a sort of Neverland, trapping within it a world of endearing opposites - a comfort in the abyss; beauty in decay. I am inspired by the ridiculous, the whimsical world of invention, nonsense, and complex machines in a playful atmosphere - to create an adventure of the unknown.
I am retractable like a lounge chair. I live part (or most) of my life inside a world I’ve created in my head as an ever-changing character. I am the detail in a complex process, the minutiae of a vast system beyond my understanding. That is my art - that is where it comes from.
My ideas start with a curiosity. I turn them into words and definitions, and map these out to get a better verbal understanding of my thoughts (and a better understanding of words). I then find images that go along the same lines, often coming up with images I had never thought of before. Through books, old magazines, image searches, journalizing ideas, etc., I research topics that have something to do with what is floating around in my head. I keep every scrap of notes, records, images - anything I have produced - and compile them into a journal or book.
I am inspired by things that we often abandon as we grow up. I am inspired by humor, playfulness, the ridiculous – mechanized, interactive, fun creations. I am inspired by tall-tales of adventures, characters, faces and eyes; gliders (airplanes), ships, motor cars and trains; gears, pulleys, linkages, cranks, and manual machines; maps and diagrams; definitions and words; catalogues with detailed recordings; goggles, old pilot helmets, oxygen masks; compasses and navigation devices; parachutes, enclosed spaces like a cockpit; windmills, old movie projectors, hoists, harnesses, tree houses and pillow and blanket forts; military uniforms and gear – minus any weapons; clocks and timepieces; taking things apart and putting them back together – my way. I am influenced by the romantic idea of an inventor – stumbling upon an idea, researching it, documenting it in detail, then twisting it – noting any peculiarities (real or imagined), and incorporating a bit of humor or whimsy. I’m gravitated toward the eccentric, the reclusive person that thinks up things and makes them happen (thinking inside the head of the possibilities not seen by others and trying to make them realities).
For me, art is a way of life, an adventure of those moments when something happens, connections are made and everything seems to make sense. Most of my work is not so much about subject matter as it is about learning things, documenting things, and acquiring skills. It is about my obsessive and meticulous process of recording every step. I often incorporate some type of manually-operated mechanical feature in my work. I’m fascinated by how all the pieces work together in such a concise manner to create the greater function of the whole. On a personal level, it is a means of containing my fidgety behavior – like a jar for fireflies. My art revolves around the highs and lows of discovery, adventure, and chance. In my drawings, I create a scene that is built upon a fantastical place of its very own - a place evolved from everyday connections, be it of experiences, objects, or ideas; a sort of Neverland, trapping within it a world of endearing opposites - a comfort in the abyss; beauty in decay. I am inspired by the ridiculous, the whimsical world of invention, nonsense, and complex machines in a playful atmosphere - to create an adventure of the unknown.
