Artist Statement
My work explores the juxtaposition of order and randomness, as well as the natural human tendency to seek pattern in chaos, our persistent desire to find meaning in disorder. I’m inspired by the ordinary, yet strangely beautiful, phenomenon of degradation—weathered paint on shingles, peeling billboards, rusted metal siding—ordered objects altered by the haphazard effects of nature and time. I work in glass because it can be both transparent and reflective, elusive and tactile, pristine and gritty—in other words, an ideal medium for these pattern-defying and pattern-finding games.
Grids are an essential element of my work—in part as a practical matter, as they allow me to make large installations unlimited by “standard” sizes of glass, but also because the grid relates to architecture as one of its essential structures (e.g. square rooms, walls at right angles, and the basic shape of most building materials). Once a grid is established, I have many choices in terms of how I can play with color and pattern. The process is similar to collage in which the materials may be cut-up and reassembled in limitless compositions. Each piece is a process of discovery—similar, I hope, to the experience of the viewer.