I set up a situation where nothing is as it seems, and our notions of reality are exposed as mere assumptions, based on perceptions and experiences that may or may not bear any actual relationship to how the world works. Instead, I invite the viewer to suspend their experience and enter into a world where the mind is allowed free rein, even as the body remains constrained by the laws of gravity and the sometimes perceptually imperceptible limits that contain it.

In my installations I try to archive a transformative moment, removing the viewer from accustomed modes of thinking and seeing, from the constraints of id and ego, if only for a second. Visceral, emotional reactions are a goal. In my abstract works, I carefully calibrate the pieces to indoor or outdoor sites; operating within the notion of a contemporary sublime. Conventionally associated with grand picturesque landscapes of the eighteenth century, the sublime deals with feelings of fear and awe that one experiences when confronted with things -- in Edmund Burke's classic definition, objects of nature -- which are dark, mysterious, incomprehensible, and potentially threatening. The sublime gives way to feelings of pleasure and joy when the viewer recognizes that there is no immediate threat. My sculptures and installations work in precisely this way, initially disorienting the viewer, then giving way to the delight of solving his/her visual puzzles, and enjoying the works' graceful and colorful forms. 

Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art in 1999 I have been able to investigate my ideas in residency programs, studio, and institutional commissions/opportunities.