The Environment Series
The Environment Series, 2004-2009
Emotions form a necessary part of an individual and are largely responsible for a person’s identity. In contrast, an inorganic object, lacking elements that would define its individual identity, can be forced and contrived into a world of emotionless machines. My admiration for machines, their function, their creation and the beauty that occurs out of their necessity to perform motivated an exploration of the way they exist in the world around them.
The forms I create connect me to the world I live in and function like machines structured to accomplish specific goals in my life. The inherent qualities of the organic are contrasted and complimented by the characteristics of the mechanical form. They contrast my human emotion and compassion with their perfunctory and emotionless function. They are mechanical representations of my ideal human self that hold an innate utility. The interior spaces of these forms are complex systems, structured so as to accomplish a balance of hierarchy with the exterior. I develop an organic and docile exterior form with which I attempt to encourage the viewer to approach, become engaged with the space inside and examine it. With the materials I use, I am able to create organic forms through the raising and manipulating of metal and with the same material am able to portray a sense of mechanical, inorganic function that allows me to embody my machines with an emotional and impassioned identity.