Artist's Statement

I am an artist who creates politically aware work. There are problems and chaos in the world around us and I deal with these issues in my art. I work in several media including sculpture, wall relief, works on paper, mail art, photography, and video. Past projects include seating for the day laborers who gathered in Brewster, New York and a September 11th anniversary billboard project in the East Village.

Currently, I am creating a body of work based on war. Children’s war toys and packaging for these toys fascinate me, and have become integrated elements of my work.

My large wall reliefs and drawings read first as abstractions. Only on closer examination does one notice that they are composed of “army men” or war stickers. In both the relief’s and sticker pieces I am using multitudes of small elements to create a very large scale piece. These vast quantities of small elements add complexity to the work.

Photography is also important to me. I have been working on a series of staged photographs involving toy army men placed in a variety of settings. Another ongoing series is titled “ Palestine/ Israel”. In this body of work I have been photographing the same people carrying Palestinian flags and then in another instance carrying Israel flags. The exploitation of “patriotism” is an idea I have been working with.

My video pieces also explore issues of war and patriotism. Several short videos were shot at a local shooting range in Connecticut. Another short group involves children responding to a toy army man piñata and explores violence and aggression.

The themes in my work I have come upon very naturally. There seems to be much pertinent territory in our current state of affairs to explore.