Condensing and synthesizing experience into simple, dynamic forms – that’s the challenge. The manifestation can often seem quite simple; that doesn’t mean it’s a simple concept.
I used these elements as a way of projecting whatever my sense of the moment was into the space. When I chose the forms and colors I was thinking of different things – my most recent experience as well as my entire experience as an artist – as a person. We made the elements in my studio in the country. They were made out of local pine – local wood. There are certain landscape references. The country house is on a big lake, so I was interested in the water, sunrise and sunset.
This is also a situation where the space really affects how you perceive the work. It is an interesting space because it is asymmetrical; it is not a box or a rectangle. It’s peculiar. The critical thing with doing an installation is that it not read as a tableau or a stage set seen from one point of view, which in a way is the equivalent of making an object – why bother? What interests me about this work is its constant reconfiguration as you walk through it. It has a certain degree of freedom. It functions in the present tense and gets away from conventional notions of figuration.
I’m really interested in buoyancy in work. I want buoyant, vibrant art. Art that has a certain kind of joy to it. And a little bit of ecstasy.
(As adapted from a conversation with the artist, September 2012)