A brief artist's statement:
Architecture is rich with cultural intentions. In my work I represent what I experience in the built environment. I am interested in the objects, structures, and decorative devices that we navigate daily, those of the living room, the hallway, and the street outside. Although facades are usually what we think about when architecture is mentioned, looking at buildings is more akin to viewing mountains or forests; The man made structures seem to arise like feats of nature. I focus on a much lower order of minutia, the smaller details of interior design and street level construction, where our interactions with architecture are personal. I start with a familiar object, and through shifts in scale, materials and context lead to varying levels of abstraction. Examples of my work include a street curb which wraps the base of the gallery walls and can’t be stepped over, a huge smoke detector which quietly intones weather reports, and a radiator which uses the ironic visual warmth of wood instead of actual heat.
I approach my sculpture as a set of substitutions; materials stand in for other materials, forms for other forms, at varying levels of dissonance or consonance. In this way, I like to think of my work as a parallel architecture, referring to building standards and types of buildings, rather than specific structures, places, or times. Connections are subtle or suggested and remain ambiguous.
Education
MFA, 1994, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
BA, 1990, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
Exhibitions
2016 “Construction Site,” McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2016 “Low Entropy,” 245 Varet St., Brooklyn NY
*2016 “Constructing Ornament,” solo show, Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY
2014 “Fluid,” Newhouse Gallery, Snug Harbor Arts Center, Staten Island, NY
*2013 "Material Handling," Solo show, Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY
2011 “Parts and Labor,” Abrons Art Center, New York, NY
*2011 Solo Show, RHV Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY
2008 “Infrastructure,” Vertexlist, Brooklyn, NY
2008 “Neo-Constructivism,” Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
2008 “Trellis,” Rupert Ravens Contemporary, Newark, NJ
2007 “Workspace Program 2001-2007,” Dieu Donne Papermill, New York, NY
2007 “The Building Show,” Exit Art, New York, NY
2005 Socrates Sculpture Park, EAFO5, Long Island City, NY
2005 Project Diversity, Rongio Gallery and Tastes Like Chicken Artspace, Brooklyn, NY
2005 “Subversion,” PS122, New York, NY
2004 “Artists in the Marketplace,” Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
2003 “Formed to Function?” Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
2003, OfficeOps, Brooklyn, NY
*2002 Solo show, Vedanta Gallery, Chicago, IL
2000 “Rockford-Midwestern; Artists of the New Millennium,” Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL
2000 “Redo,” Standard Gallery, Chicago, IL
1999 “This Side Up,” Spaces, Cleveland, OH
*1998 Solo show, “Safety is No Accident,” Bodybuilder and Sportsman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1998 “Posted @ Beret,” Beret Gallery, Chicago, ILProject viewable online at: www.spaces.org/archive/spaces/posted.htm
1996 “Selected Activities,” Tough Gallery, Chicago, IL
1996 “Kinetic Sculpture Invitational,” Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center, University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN
1996 “Potentiality,” A.R.C. Gallery, Chicago, IL
1996 “Space in the Vernacular,” Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
1994 “Opening Pandora’s Box,” Gallery 2, Chicago, IL
Awards and Honors
2004, Dieu Donne Papermill Workspace residency.
2004, Participant in Artists In the Marketplace (AIM) at the Bronx Museum of the Arts.
2002, Visiting Artist, University of Minnesota, Duluth.
2000, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, 1996, 1998.
1998-2000, City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs. CAAP Grant.
Bibliography
Bell, Anonda. “Neo-Constructivism” catalog, Rutgers University, Newark, February, 2008: pp. 60-63.
Camper, Fred. “Shattered Ideals,” Chicago Reader. November 20, 1998: p. 40.
Genocchio, Benjamin. “A Chance to Fill Up on Visual Treats,” New York Times. April 25, 2004: Section 14, p. 9.
Green, Frank. “Perception Deception: Spaces exhibit skews ordinary life,” Cleveland Free Times. January 20-26, 1999: p. 28.
Hertzberg, Julia P. “News and Views,” ArtNexus. October, 2004.
Kalm, James. “Critic’s Pics,” Wagmag. November, 2008: p. 7.
Micchelli, Thomas. “Painting from the Ground Up,” Hyperallergic.com. July 9th, 2016. http://hyperallergic.com/309888/painting-from-the-ground-up/
Pearson, Julee. “Space in the Vernacular,” New Art Examiner. May, 1996: p. 48.
Phillips, Patricia C. “Workspace Program 2001-07,” exhibition catalogue essay, Dieu Donne. December, 2007: p. 4.
Powhida, William. “Artseen,” The Brooklyn Rail. June, 2005: p. 19.
Vander Weg, Kara. “One Space, Many Faces,” EAF05 catalog, Socrates Sculpture Park, November, 2007: p.6.
Yee, Lydia. AIM24 Catalog introduction, Bronx Museum of the Arts, April, 2004: p. 5.