ABOUT
I have spent a good deal of my working life engaged in a conversation on the relationship of art, and most especially sculpture, to the public environment. I have always felt uncomfortable with the idea that art was destined to be an elitist activity that can only be found within the confines of museums and galleries. I like the notion that art can relate to a wider audience, that it can survive and indeed thrive, out in the streets, where it can engage a much broader cross section of the public.
In this environment the relationship between sculpture and architecture & space planning becomes a very important aspect. My work has drawn me into a close working relationship with a number of architects including Theo Crosby of Pentagram in London and most recently Jon Jerde's firm here in Los Angeles and Mike Rogers at HKS Architects.
I have also been drawn to the idea of the relationship between sculpture and the landscape, between a created object and the natural environment. The forces that drive the ideas behind my recent work are also the forces that form natural organisms and events. The spiral, the wave, the vortex, the organizational forces of nature. I have become fascinated most recently in the Fibonacci series of numbers and its relationship to natural growth. These are elemental concepts that connect the artifice of my own work to the observation of natural form and in particular, its dynamic geometric language.
The work I do often derives its essence from a study of this "hidden" geometry. Often this is hidden to the point that even I barely sense the connection. A significant portion of that natural ordering is dynamic. It reveals itself in the geometry of fluid motion, for example the growth pattern of a plant from seed to full-grown. Hence my work has often involved motion and movement within the work itself. To me the static and the motion are reflections of each other. All this is also is inextricably tied up in the way that we perceive the world around us and the action of nature, this illusion that we call color and vision.
In my search for ways to imply motion I became fascinated by the movies and the completely believable illusion of motion that they create out of the motorized passage of a series of still images. This has drawn me into a love affair with electronics and the use of durable light sources. The materials I use on my work sometimes derive from those pioneered by the outdoor sign industry and the movie industry; neon, light emitting diode arrays (LED's), programmable logic controllers (PLC's), lightweight structures.
Being out in the streets compels the artist to modify the materials he or she uses in order to achieve permanence under conditions of weathering, wind and harsh sunlight. Our materials resemble much more those of the built landscape. This forces us towards a new language. Some of the traditional materials for this kind of work, cast bronze for instance are not very useful to me. I like the challenge of a new palette. This context also provides new opportunities. The environment of the streets is one that changes over time, climactic conditions, temperature, light and sound levels change throughout the day. I am interested in capturing these changes and reflecting them in the sculpture, mimicking the way a tree bends in the wind, making the sculpture respond to its changing environment.
After moving to Los Angeles I encountered the world of special effects. I now work with many of other elements that have a motion perspective; hydraulics and pneumatics, water, fire, ice, sound and projection systems. All have a common thread in my work in that a central brain orchestrates their actions; a computerized controller that allows the artist to create and direct changes and motion patterns in the work.
Finally I strive to make the touch of technology one that is light. The use of materials and techniques should serve the end goal and should not become an end in itself. This is often hard to achieve. I think sculptors have always been experimenters with new materials. We happen to live in a time when both our exploration of nature is growing in intensity and depth and a time when technology is exploding. I like to explore both arenas and try to find a match between them in my work, so that one mirrors the other.
I also do a good deal of drawing in my studio. I find that it is there that I can explore ideas without committing to the logistics of larger more technical work. I value the fact that there I can start with little or no fixed idea and allow the exploration to take its own course. Despite the apparent deliberate and planned nature of my sculptural end products, the origin of all my work is often a mystery to me. It may be many years before I become aware of the connection between a part of my work and its origin. This is one of the pleasures of being an artist. There are things that are not always explainable, both within the individual and in history. At heart, life and art are still mysterious.