Preserving the boundary between private and public life is paramount. Amidst the flourishing art scene of the 1980s, I was raised on the windswept plains of Native Oklahoma. The gusts were so fierce that I once found myself airborne, tethered to a street sign to avoid being swept away. With neighborhood children, I'd chase dust devils, racing to be enveloped before they vanished. The victor would stand inside with closed eyes and arms crossed, spinning until the funnel dissipated. These elemental and sensory encounters profoundly influenced my artistic journey.
Encountering Anne Hamilton or Robert Irwin's installations often evokes nostalgia for my childhood experiences. Hamilton's ethereal fabric sculptures and Irwin's luminous, purposeful interiors transport me to a realm of serenity and excitement akin to those youthful moments. Their art reassures me that others draw inspiration from Mother Nature's profound impact on the human psyche. In my 2019 exhibition titled Flight, with guidance from Heidi Krauss, I sought to explore similar concepts of gravity through installation, while also delving into material experimentation.
Creating a site-responsive installation within a former furniture warehouse offered a rare chance to craft a unique exhibition experience. Utilizing the gallery's spatial dynamics, I designed the presentation to be appreciated from both above and below. Upon descending a robust stairwell into the main gallery, visitors were greeted by the sculpture pair "Thick and Thin 2019." Deeper within, they encountered a series of primary-colored floor sculptures titled "Layouts 2019," presented in an edition of five. Adorning the walls were small to medium format monotypes featuring airplanes, figures, dynamic lines, and vibrant, moon-like shapes.
At the forefront of the main gallery soared a hand-riveted aluminum airplane suspended from a towering 35-foot ceiling. Adjacent stood the imposing freestanding sculpture "Air Sack 2019," crafted from aluminum and concrete. Across the divide in the second gallery, pedestaled amidst the space, were the foam and ceramic sculpture duo "Visibility Unlimited 2019," the French wax cast "Gone Holland 2019," and the aqua resin cast "Us 2011."
In essence, "Flight" served as a homage to my hometown. Nestled beside a modest military airport, my childhood was filled with dreams of distant planes descending from the sky. I aimed for viewers to embark on a journey through the abstracted expressions of my formative years, where the natural elements I once immersed myself in were distilled into fundamental visual components and inert materials within the exhibition space. Unlike the perpetual motion of the outdoors, the gallery remained surveilled and static.
