As a child my favorite place in New York was the Museum of Natural History. I couldn’t get enough of the displays of exotic specimens, particularly the dinosaur fossils and strange sea creatures. I have been enthralled by the natural world for my entire life. Animals especially have held the greatest fascination, the stranger the better: shelled, segmented, spined, or predatory.
The discovery, collection, study, and display of odd specimens has long appealed to me. Intriguing, extinct creatures from the distant past, frozen in stone, as well as strange theoretical animals from a past that never was or a future that never will be inspire my work. I create the fictitious display of strange collections.
My work references the Victorian cabinets of curiosities as well as medieval reliquaries. The thrill of discovery and re-discovery leads to the collection and enshrinement of those treasured things. The drive to possess the objects of worship is all too common. Feelings of awe can lead to the desire to control the very thing we hold in such esteem.
My recent work seeks to highlight that peculiar relationship and make the visual statement that some things can't be controlled. When we fail to recognize this it can have dire consequences, both for the object of our affections, and potentially for ourselves.