Ordinary objects, camouflaged by familiarity, blend into the background of everyday existence. Casting disposable items in permanent materials changes their character, allowing one to see them with fresh eyes.
The visual vocabulary I use in my figurative work parallels and reinterprets the still-life tradition. I depict food related as well as functional objects and use explanatory titles to express states of mind, emotion, humor, absurdity, paradoxes and social commentary. My Medallion series is an example of this. It consists of varied plastic to-go drink lids, kiln cast in glass. The cast lids are meant as balm for a workaholic society: imaginary medallions awarded for taking a break from work. The original plastic lids came from drinks taken during my own break from work. I found others on the street or in parks, lifted some from fast food restaurants, or picked them out of garbage cans. Like a bird watcher or butterfly collector, I enjoy studying and/or collecting similar things whose differences become apparent only when grouped together (as in a field guide or museum display) so that one can compare them to each other.
A past series of mine, called Keepsake, consisted of varied paper napkins (around 30) cast in hydrocal. Most of the napkins were saved from meals with friends, family, or those taken alone. The cast napkins serve as mementos documenting significant points in time (and sometime places). The Medallion series is in the same vein, but I decided not to keep track of where the lids came from in order to allow viewers to associate their own memories with lids they recognize.
I used to collect disposable to-go coffee cups with different plastic lids. At first I cast the lidded cups in glass purely for aesthetic reasons because I am fascinated with industrial design. Later I started observing people’s body language while clutching them on the go. I concluded that the cups deliver more than physical comfort; there’s an emotional component as well. Hot coffee can provide stimulation, warmth, and relief from craving for caffeine. Casting the cups in glass transforms them into gleaming talismans of psychological and physical comfort.
My figurative work seeks to arouse a heightened awareness and appreciation of life’s fleeting moments. By creating permanent icons out of cast-offs, I spotlight the mundane and celebrate what is usually taken for granted.
People have an internal “Rosetta Stone”, chiseled by the hands that brought them up, eroded and polished by the impact of their life experiences. I think of my sculptures as three-dimensional hieroglyphics. I welcome the possibility that nuances of my pictorial language may be deciphered and interpreted differently from person to person.