Air is measured in pressure and volume; similarly these objects are a physical experience of pressure and volume. The Inflatables are not fabricated so much as grown. The forging of the steel while under air pressure expands the material in such a way that they reference organic forms. The colors used are specific to industrial farm equipment; the color accentuates the form by re-contextualizing the experience of industrial farming, without the prescribed ideological notions of identity, purpose, and place. The contrast that is created by the use of color associated with heavy equipment (which tends to be viewed as a masculine point of pride) placed on sensual forms sets up an interesting juxtaposition. Sexual or erotic form is not dependent on gender. Masculinity and femininity are not material forms but rather social constructs. Creases, folds, wrinkles, curved lines, bulges; these are things that make sensual erotic form. This, coupled with the contrast of the hard gloss surfaces of the synthetic powder coat to the soft leathery oxidized surface of the raw rusted steel, assist in heightening the sense of contrast between the synthetic and the organic.
Born: 1973
Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, The College of Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Internship, artist blacksmith Tom Joyce, Santa Fe, NM
Internship intaglio printmaking, painter/printmaker Jean Richardson, Oklahoma City, OK
Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, with artist Deloss McGraw
Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, with artist Robert Z. Rahway