Artist's Statement
I explore an idealized world where structure and form are filtered from an urban landscape.
I first saw it from a car’s backseat window some 25 years ago: the metropolitan framework of Chicago. I remember contorting my body in an effort to take more in. To my young eyes the buildings were impossibly high and overflowing. I was in awe of their presence.
This city’s grandeur would imprint in me the power of logic and reason. Stone, glass and metal twisted into epic shapes - direct evidence of our progress as a people. The rational sciences fused into tangible symbols of human strength.
I spent the last 4 years traveling the country. I visited hundreds of cities. None held the same attraction, the same blend of tradition and innovation as Chicago. Each return trip left me shocked at the pace of its growth and humbled by the beauty of its corridors.
My images preserve these elements as shrines where humankind’s achievements are honored and explored.
I create rifts in reality – pockets of concentrated time. Space is pushed, pulled and carved via traditional and non-traditional techniques. Each image is born from a series of photographs. These medium format sources may be as large as 120 mega pixels. I implement a process of refinement, where elements not tied directly to the structural integrity of the subject are stripped. The skeleton of the image is handled with a worshipful eye. It is glorified, enhanced and presented to the viewer – not as a byproduct of society, but as an honored stage in humanity’s progress.
The discipline of disegno dictates that sculpting is likened to the act of divine creation. Sculptors of the Reconnaissance believed their hands were guided by faith.