Used: A Day in the Life of a Shopping Cart
2-Channel Site-Specific video created in April 2012
Projected at WFU START Gallery, 3 May 2012.
The lonely shopping cart is noticed and fulfills its purpose, only to be left behind again.
How are we “used? How do we “use” each other? Are you really being “used” or are you fulfilling a greater purpose? Can these be the same thing?
Rain & Clouds
This project was a collaborative video-installation piece with Kelly Larson, created in May 2012.
Challenging the schema of rain in an attempt to shock the viewer, open up their mind to new ways of thinking, creativity, and discovery.
Simulacrum, 2013
installation of 5 videos and 5-piece sculpture
Simulacrum: a material image, made as a representation of some deity, person, or thing (OED).
The pieces in this show were created out of a desire to understand the implications of creation – what it means and what it looks like, particularly for an artist.
When I created this project, I believed that humans were the creation of an all-powerful Creator, formed in their image. So I asked myself, if this is true, what happens if the creation denies the role of the Creator and attempts to become the Creator itself? What if the creation creates only by making images of itself for its own glory and self-gratification?
In this project, I turned the camera back onto myself to contemplate the purpose of my creation of artwork. I presented a series of my own simulacra, accompanied by moving images of their creation and my attempts to interact with what I produced – copies of myself.
My artwork has always been some form of self-portraiture, always in some way a self-analysis or a picture of my personal journey. I have worked on ways to make this self-awareness accessible and applicable to my audience with sincere intention. Yet it is still about me – a recreation of my thoughts or feelings and an illustration of my interpretation of the world. Can this form of image-making reflect more than my own likeness? What purpose does a piece of artwork have? Can it ever be something other than an idol to oneself, a hope of carrying on one’s image in the world? All artwork inherently holds a piece of the artist, but can it be any more?
