Sculpture

Since 1985 drawing activity was employed to create sculpture whose intimacy as well as immediacy with the viewer was parallel to that of drawing. His intuitive process went from drawing with an electric saw on sheets of plywood to “drawing in space” by orchestrating steel fabricators in the skeletal construction of pieces like TEAHOUSE and NARRATIVE. To him “Drawing is primary, not preliminary.” By 1996 this exploration ceased and he returned to the development of his painting. In 1998 the concept of synchronous viewing, which occurs in late reed pen drawings of Vincent van Gogh, was the basis for a new series of ink drawings titled RHAPSODY. This notion, that a mark is seen simultaneously as an individual unit and collectively as pattern, became the genesis for a new body of three-dimensional work. Under the category of DIMENSIONAL DRAWINGS, many series and installation works have emerged.

RHAPSODY RHAPSODY is the tangible manifestation of marking activity viewed through multiple drawing episodes. Made of materials reminiscent of a mark distilled from a pencil drawing, the graphite and paper coated cotton rope traces the biography of a gesture and its appearance into form. Whether attached sequentially on the wall, dispersed on the floor or stacked in layers, RHAPSODY encourages the viewer to experience the intimacy, emergence and tactility of the drawing process.

GRID GRID is a series of dimensional drawings that combine the activity and process of drawing with the physical and spatial concerns of sculpture. GRID translates the repetitive hand function associated with drawing into tangible units or marks. Each GRID has an accompanying schematic locating the precise intersection at which to drill, information on unit and grid creation and the artist's signature, which documents the piece. The schematic functions as a musical composition with the installation of the drawing units being the music that is played. In 2006 the fundamental construction of a GRID was altered. The “marks” or units became more than the physical manifestation of a wrist movement associated with drawing activity, they became the physical arrangement and culmination of a marking episode. By 2007 these episodes became forms, which functioned as individual marks constructing a drawing. The cast shadows of a GRID now replicate the varying gestures occurring during the drawing activity allowing the viewer to participate in the process.

GLYPH GLYPH synthesizes elements from other series to expand the possibilities of physical drawing. Composed of graphite and paper-coated filaments, compressed into a 24” square grid and inserted into the wall, GLYPH captures the energy and mystery often associated with carved stone inscriptions.

SQUIGGLE and SCRIBBLE SQUIGGLE and SCRIBBLE are series of drawing installations, which mimic the process of drawing by focusing on the composition and placement of the mark.