Artist Statement
My work is motivated by a profound interest in nature and cosmology and the abstractions which humans use to understand the universe. I draw upon ideas in mathematics, science, psychology, and theology to create my images. These disciplines, each in their way are focused on expanding our understanding of the universe and our place in it. I consider the models and abstractions that these fields use to be fascinating and beautiful, and I try to reflect the intricacy and elegance of these theoretical constructs in my images. I am formally trained in physics and mathematics, and the analytic, deductive approach of these subjects greatly influences my artwork. Additionally, many of the specific concepts which I base my images on originate in science—numerical and geometric patterns from mathematics, astronomical charts and models of space and time from physics, organic forms and relationships from biology. By using scientific abstractions detached from any specific representation of nature, I hope to evoke a sense that these images are analytic depictions of some other universe.
I intend for the images to resemble diagrams or illustrations perhaps with some technical or spiritual purpose, yet I want them to remain ambiguous as to the specific subject they represent. I want the viewer to have the sense that they have come upon the scientific or religious documents from some alien civilization—it is clear that they have some specific interpretation and purpose, but one cannot decipher what that interpretation is. They are deliberately enigmatic—like pages from a technical report or an illuminated manuscript taken out of context. Without a language or framework in which to interpret them, they appear cryptic and abstruse, and their meaning and function must necessarily remain hidden.