Artist Statement

As a young boy I can remember seeing trees and plants growing up through the sidewalks in my small town.  I always found it interesting that nature was able to fight back against that which man had made.  People, plants, and animals can all grow and immerge from the strangest of places.  I grew up in the country, where I spent most of my time working outside. The ability to work with and around nature was extremely important to my development.  From there I moved into the city where I’ve stayed for some years now.  Day after day I look at geometric shapes, flat walls, sharp corners; but strangely, that doesn’t seem to bother me as much as I once thought it would.

The idea of a simple, delicate, organic object growing on, over, or from the confines of a geometric shape is the concept behind my work.  The organic shapes are entirely made up, but acquire aspects from numerous plants, seeds, fruits, and vegetables I can remember from my past.  From there I create inanimate objects, but as I create them, I also try to give the objects a personality or emotion of their own.  Each piece of art takes on its own life story.  Maybe it is a tree growing inside the walls of a gallery; maybe it is a flower emerging from a centuries old piece of marble.  Whatever, the story may be, I want each piece of art to stop time at that particular point.