Sculpture

Bio/Artist Statement:
I grew up in Santa Clara Valley starting in the late 40’s when it was called Valley of Delights. It was mostly orchards and farm land then. In the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s I watched it change into Silicon Valley, and the wall to wall people and buildings that it is now. The construction most used in those days was tilt ups made of cast concrete and beams developed from the transformation of the fertile farmland into buildings and pavement. It seemed twisted to me to cover up some of the best farm landing in the world with paving, houses and buildings.

This is one of the reasons the I-beams are bent and twisted. The other part of the bending has to do with ideas. When you first conceive an idea, the way you plan it in your mind, and what you actually end up with are usually different. The original thought has been bent or twisted by outside forces. That could be other people, government agencies, or natural forces like gravity pulling down on what you want to put up.

The materials I use vary. Bronze, wood, resin, cardboard, and found objects are used depending on the idea I want to express. Much of the wood is saved from throw away piles. The cardboard and paper is all packaging, mail and magazines. I like to reclaim as much throw away stuff as I can. I want you to take a second look at these materials. Some of the wood slabs were saved from orchards being torn out in the early 70’s. In those days they would bulldoze the trees into a pile and burn them. The I-beam piercing the wood slab is a metaphor for the destruction of an agricultural environment to transform it into urban sprawl.

The bronze sculptures tend to deal more with the mind, ethics and politics. Bureaucrats can take a simple matter, and twist it into a complicated form, i.e. if a monolith was a simple bill in Congress, it gets cut up, and reconnected in strange ways that no one really wants.