My work evolves from an inquiry into the nature of my materials, my working process, and the paper itself. What I learn from my media I use as a frame of reference for the real world. The pieces in the River Rocks series express some of the common ground shared by natural processes and my art-making methods.
The Devastation Series – by representing and replicating natural process on static works of art and juxtaposing the artwork with the processes at work in nature, underscores the current environmental crisis. The video shows how the work was inspired by nature and also imbues the artwork (which endures after the moving images on the screen are gone) with the power and magnitude of what has been revealed.
Since I have been a lifetime student of classical music (piano), which involves an understanding of music composition, it occurred to me that musical compositions are built upon patterns of theme and variation. Since that epiphany, I have structured several works on classical music forms.
Multiple layers of paper were collaged creating two separate structures divided by the chicken wire, which supports the front layer. The many layers of papers and the obliterated graffiti testify to a long history of the wall. Wile the bold graffitii Eric Fisher painted seems to dominate the piece, it has a lot of competition from the wall surfaces.
This is one of a series of 15 pieces cast from a plaster of Paris mold of my face in 1985. The series demonstrates the hidden qualities of Hosho, a paper used in Japan for wood block printing, which I discovered is capable of picking up fine detail from the mold when wet, and retaining the form when dry. The rectangular format reminds the viewer of the original sheet of paper and the “paper-ness” of the sculpture.
This is my most recent piece. I recently became more open about being queer, and have had a lot of really great conversations with friends about dating and intimacy in the queer community. I also have found that, for myself, my own nervousness and confusion about my sexual orientation, as well as others’ confusion, have fueled some problems in past relationships and in my pursuit of new ones. This piece is meant to kind of represent, from my own personal perspective and experience, the beauty and love of queer connection and intimacy, as well as the difficulty and stress.
