ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a visual artist whose work explores the vocabularies of science, art, and mysticism. Although these three disciplines contrast in distinct ways, I am interested in where they intersect on the threshold of the unknown. I make paintings, drawings, essays, and site-determined projects that utilize language, diagrams, and celestial observations as articulations of the ineffable. My work draws upon an innate human search for understanding our place among the earth and cosmos.
Experiences of the phenomena of nature and the cosmos feel essential to who I am. In many ways, they are at the heart of my work. Though my artwork is primarily studio based, it is informed by personal transformative experiences in the expanded field. After an artist residency in France, I had the opportunity to travel to a Neolithic archeoastronomy site called Carnac in the Bretagne region. This area has the largest concentration of megaliths (giant standing stones) in Europe, dating back to about 3000 BC, many of which are aligned with astronomical significance. I was astounded by how ancient cultures created monuments to denote the passage of the sun, moon, planets, and time. I came to understand that this impulse to mark our place in the universe is timeless and permeates humanity. It was a profound experience that continues to shape my interests.
My subsequent works on canvas use layers of burnished graphite on meticulous surfaces painted matte black. In person, there is an interplay of light reflection off the graphite and light absorption into the darkness of the paint. The painting surfaces seem to appear and disappear depending on the viewer’s vantage point. This material play echoes elusive, enigmatic imagery such as ancient rock carvings, lunar cycles, star systems, and elliptical text that transforms phrases and diagrams into an exploration of mantra and pattern.
I founded and direct KNOWLEDGES, a curatorial initiative that has produced two site-specific exhibitions at Mount Wilson Observatory. First in 2012, then again in 2017, KNOWLEDGES at Mount Wilson Observatory has presented a constellation of more than fifty cosmic-oriented contemporary artworks and performances on the grounds of the historic astronomical observatory located in the San Gabriel Mountains, outside Los Angeles. These exhibitions have created a new contemporary context for celestial-oriented art explorations, bringing people up out of the city below to experience art, astronomy, and cosmology in new ways.
I am currently developing a new large-scale project: The Museum of Celestial Art (MCeleA) is a mobile experimental micro-museum presenting an interpretive history of night-skygazing. The project translates ancient celestial artifacts into an immersive installation for public interaction. It contemplates the profound creative influence of cosmic observation, from ancient darkness to its erasure through contemporary light pollution. The space offers a poetic contemplation of forms that have permeated time and human perception of the night sky and the unknown.
In all my projects, I aspire to engage the experience of awe. My work is a contemplation of both inner and outer space—a place to consider the vastness of the cosmos that surround us and the immensity and beauty of human endeavor to understand ourselves within it.