This is somewhat difficult for me, as I tend to feel that most artist statements are a bunch of pretentious crap.  No doubt my opinions – and my own statement – will change as I evolve in my approach to and understanding of art.  However, an old friend used to describe himself as “opinionated and outspoken”, and the same could be said for me.  I generally like only a minority of the art I see, but then I am also an impatient person and if something doesn’t grab me visually right away, I seldom linger very long to try to figure out what the intent was.

I have always been interested in geometric shapes and architecture, particularly industrial structures, and this is driving the majority of my current work.  This direction began early in the fall semester, caused partly by my advisor suggesting I look at the work of Charles Simonds (among others).  In his early work Simonds created private worlds composed of structures built from miniscule, individual bricks of unfired clay in imagined landscapes. I was taking a ceramic handbuilding class at the time, but didn’t want to mimic him.  After thinking about it for a while, I decided to turn to my previous modeling experience and construct basswood structures on ceramic bases.

I got a lot of feedback from my initial efforts, including many more resources for me to investigate, among them the stunning B&W photographs of small Pennsylvania coal mines taken by the famed German couple, Bernd and Hilla Becher.  I also rediscovered the clean geometry and classic shapes of country grain elevators,which are rapidly disappearing in this age of consolidation and agra-business.  My interest in Greek villages led me to other Mediterranean and North African vernacular structures.

Some of these works are relatively accurate translations of structures I’ve admired in photographs,some are genericized images of a general type of structure, while others are multiple styles/scales merged together or complete fantasy fabrications.  Although it is inevitable that viewers will consider that perspective, I have tried to avoid making “models” by focusing my attention on those intrinsic design elements of the structure that visually appeal to me, as opposed to getting bogged down in replicating unimportant details.

Right now I have examples of numerous types of structures that I want to investigate, and my challenge will be to find a way to incorporate them into my own internal visions and not merely replicate them.  This is most difficult when I find the original structure “perfect” in and of itself, and only wish to create my own 3D version of it in a smaller scale.  I suspect I will need to go through an exploratory period as I learn to merge the real and imagined in my work.