Tight Spots, 2021
towels, motors, rods, tubing
(site specific)
Humor and empathy meet in Tight Spots as each small towel sculpture toils away, “head down” working endlessly in an absurd yet relatable performance. As each piece in the installation works individually, yet in a similar manner, relationships are formed through space. The overtone is humorous, the undertone is the heavy monotony of tasks from home or the churning of an anxious mind.
My Pleasure, 2012
site specific
wood, motors, cigarette, string, thread, fans, wire, soap, brown paper bag, wax
My Pleasure is a site specific installation at Land of Tomorrow Gallery in Louisville, KY. Within an empty room with an old installed wooden floor, a brown paper bag extending from the wall expands and contracts creating a rhythmic crinkling sound. It mimics hyperventilation, but is also tender and fragile. At the same time, soap bubbles appear and collect around a hole in the floor; a miniature black object swings around in a fickle manner reminiscent of an agitated house fly; and a nearly unnoticeable cigarette rests slightly “lit” and smoking on the floorboards. The combination of small kinetic sculptures create a simultaneously easy rhythmic peacefulness and a silent stifled restlessness. The large amounts of empty space within the installation echo the possible vacancy of the polite response “my pleasure”.
sinkers, over-the-hill birthday candle wax, thread, wire, motors, latex tubing
(site specific)
Making Room was the inaugural exhibition for PAR-Projects in Cincinnati, OH. The location informs the content and form of pieces. Thirteen large mechanized mobiles mimic the motion of bugs swarming. The motion of each small piece is connected to those around them creating an agitating, but a beautiful visual manifestation of interdependence. While activating the space, it references the highly coordinated manner in which a colony can move. Group coordination can be quite simple yet extremely effective toward solving complex problems (like an ant finding the shortest distance to food and others following that trail). At the same time, the presence of bugs can indicate deterioration and change. The “flies” are coated in black wax from birthday candles which celebrates as well as references the passing of time. Walking through the installation is slow and careful. Perception is heightened as the web like “swarms” seem to materialize and disappear. The presence of the viewer both activates and threatens the pieces. As the new space for Par Projects opened up, its past use as a lumber yard and the vacancy afterward transitions to new possibilities as the community works together to engage with art and makes space for learning.
More Than Happy, 2015
paper, paint, water, motor, fan, ledge/surface (site specific)
No Vacancy, 2010
site specific
dehumidifier, steel bucket, single burner, motors, wood, soap, cigarette, string
A smoking cigarette lays discarded, a rocking bucket sizzles away drips that fall from above, soap bubbles emerge from a knot in the wooden platform and a pull-string bounces as if it has just been tugged. The empty space and gestures are in delicate balance. Although barely there, it physically bounces, twitches, smokes, rocks, drips, sizzles, bubbles, steams and wobbles; psychologically it conjures from within and without; intellectually it challenges, but pushes off.
Swarm, 2013
6x6x14 feet
lead sinkers, over-the-hill birthday candle wax, thread, wire, motor, latex tubing
A large, mechanized mobile created site specifically for the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum in East Lansing, MI that mimics the motion of a swarm of flies or bugs. A single motor slowly turns a wobbly wire apparatus which supports multiple pieces of thread occasionally holding a bit of lead and black wax. As the wire lightly catches on pieces of latex tubing, the whole piece wobbles and sways making the various pieces of lead and wax move slowly but erratically like a swarm of flies. All of the threads are attached to each other in some way, so the motion of one wire, thread or lead/wax “fly” always affects the rest creating an agitating but beautiful visual manifestation of interdependence.
Made Up, 2015
site specific
table bases, motors, wood, white table cloth
Made Up is a kinetic sculptural installation in which a series of tabletops spin simultaneously referencing furniture, dance and formal gatherings while making invisible forces and air patterns visible.
Maybe it’s supposed to, 2013
1×1 inch
soap, water, tubing, motor, hole in the wall
From a small hole in the wall (no bigger than one made by a nail or screw) soap bubbles sputter through. Almost unnoticeable, but showing potential in the unreachable spaces behind the wall.
Thin Air, 2018
fabric, rods, thread, spinners, wood, motor, wire
The ubiquitous, relaxing and sensual action of a curtain blowing is uncannily controlled by a motor and strings. The curtain becomes a puppet, the implied breeze animatronic.
Vice Versa, 2013
site specific
red rubber balls, elastic string, metal arms, motors
Vice Versa was a room filled with mechanized red bouncing balls attached to elastic strings hanging from turning windshield wiper motors. The motors were mounted to the 25 foot ceiling extending through the shiny, italic Zaha Hadid architecture at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.
