Artist Statement
Ever since I was seven years old, I was obsessed with time. I was fascinated by the world’s different coexistent calendars, our internal biological clocks, and the way scientists tried to understand the physics of the 4th dimension.
My work today deepens and extends that never-ending conversation about the historical past I love and the future I am dying to know. What will it be like? How will we react? What about virtual worlds, reverse aging, driverless cars, gender disappearance, bioengineering, space exploration…?
When we step back and see where we are in time, we start to realize just why this is the most unusual time in history to be alive. Change is happening on a scale never before experienced. Art can help visualize big ideas and paradigm shifts, and make them easier to understand.
In this period of flux, rather than getting dragged kicking and screaming behind, the great challenge is to step in and create the world we dream is possible. We can start by stopping our instinct to fear change. If we can imagine the world we want, we can build it and make it real.
Raku Ceramics
I work primarily in Raku – which is a technique which was invented here in Los Angeles in the 1960’s. It involves removing red hot work (from a kiln at a temperature of 1760 degrees) and then dumping it into a metal can of paper which immediately bursts into flames. The fire sucks oxygen from the chamber and metals in the glaze produce incredible iridescent effects. Smoke soaks into the clay to make unglazed areas a rich matte black. The thermal shock causes glaze surfaces to crack.
These raku effects give my work the feeling that my futuristic sculptures have been dug out of an architectural dig from the past.
Art + Technology + Social Engineering
I work in ceramics (gallery + street), frontier technology (augmented reality installations) and crowd participation (hack-a-thons talks & social engineering projects).