My art making doesn’t begin in the studio. My art making begins with a never-ending adventure of collecting. I look for objects once used or created by people. I absolutely love to find objects that show wear from a human being or from the passing of time: rusted bells, old wooden boxes, antique sprinkler valves, rusty drill bits, mannequin heads, old painted cabinet hinges, children’s toys, bristle brushes, paint chipped pulleys, metal film canisters, a broken guitar or an old military explosives box. Sometimes these objects are discarded (found in the garbage, dumpster, side of the road, or given to me by a friend) and other times these objects are sold (flea markets, garage sales, eBay, etc.).
Much of my work contains illumination. The neon I fabricate is created with no conceptual plan or idea of a finished piece in mind. I just focus on creating objects – some tubes filled with krypton, others with argon, some with mercury, many with varying diameters or twists or bubbles. These objects are created by my hands, my mouth and my breath and they will be eventually married with a screw driver or a wooden shoe stretcher that you might have thrown away.
I’m an environmental artist, some even call me an archaeologist, who attempts to preserve and document the evolution of man, culture, and society by rescuing objects from landfill and telling their stories on the gallery wall.