The abstract work presented here addresses a range of artistic concerns through the lens of my personal principles of sculptural expression. The principles I use derive from the mechanics of visual perception. To summarize, we learn to understand the spatial properties of our physical environment in several ways. One of the most important is the interpretation of the patterns of light impinging on the inside of two variable spherical surfaces-our eyes. In concert with proprioception*, the sensation, the feel of light impinging on our retinas, permits us to derive amazing amounts of information about the space we occupy, how to move about in it, and how to manipulate or avoid objects. I use self-referential patterns to define physical objects in space. These are used in a very deliberate way to call into question the nature of the viewed form…does that shape advance or recede in space what is the scale, etc. The range of spatial questions is immense, but suffice to say, the objects interact with the space around and between themselves and, as the viewer moves about the sculptures the perceived form changes continually. This is a phenomenological approach intended to produce sculpture fully in-the-round. I choose to work in real space because we live in real space and I wish to heighten our awareness or even call into question how we commonly determine reality.
Proprioception (from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own") is the sense of the position of parts of the body, relative to other neighbouring parts of the body. Unlike the five exteroception human senses of sight, taste, smell, touch, and hearing, that advise us of the outside world, proprioception is a sense that provides feedback solely on the status of the body internally. It is the sense that indicates whether or not your body is moving with required effort as where the various parts of the body are located in relation to each other.
My aesthetic approach is to make intensely real and accurate figures, singly or in groups, with a comprehensive array of expression and gesture. My ultimate goal with this approach is to create a compelling sense of the personality of the individual portrayed. I prefer working at life size to make the viewer's experience as close as possible to being with the actual people. I am, however, happy to work over or under life-size to suit the requirements of a particular project.