statement

My work involves collective, systematic processes that reflect personal observations and interactions with elements of suburbia. I create abstractions of the familiar, such as supermarkets, housing developments, parking lots, and fast food restaurants. Sites are interpreted with various surveying methods including color matching, architectural measuring, photography, process drawing and Global Positioning System (GPS) mapping. The collected data is structured to reflect personal and sometimes absurd perceptions of my environment. Materials and processes for each project are specifically selected to communicate visual, conceptual, and emotional aspects of the subject. Surrounded by consumerism, I have developed a critical yet tolerant perspective of the American “big box” landscape. This sense of ambiguity is the core of my work, centered around objective yet intimate encounters with banality.


Notes on Spirograph drawings
Sept. 4, 2009

Beginning in 2002, the imagery of the Spirograph drawings has been influenced by the mundane and seemingly forgettable suburban spaces that I interact with daily. Housing developments, cul-de-sacs, lattice privacy fences, swimming pools, lawn mowing patterns, automobiles, big box retail stores, parking lots, and other elements of suburbia are the compelling subjects of the Spirograph drawings. While the visual aspects of these suburban interactions partially shape the images, it is the obsessive and repetitive drawing process that reveals the psychological and emotional impact of routine and restraint in American suburbia.

The playful, formulaic designs that can be made with a Spirograph Design Toy are analogous to the suburban landscape, which is partly defined by the extreme repetition existent among numbing uniformity and patterns. When the drawn patterns are multiplied and layered, the individuality of the image is lost and becomes a unified mass of indistinct lines.