ARTISTS STATEMENT
My work is an attempt to document a persons journey or passage through life. I try to portray this passage as a shaman-like journey through halls and along paths illustrating the choices and restrictions of the paths we choose. This journey is shaman-like in the fact that the search for knowledge and self betterment are (ideally) foremost amongst our goals. It also follows the idea that a shamans path is a personal journey which receives only little outside help.
Another shamanic quality is the idea of passing from one state of existence into another . As you pass through a door between rooms or climb stairs from one floor to another, it may be said that you enter a slightly different reality than before. This change in realities, also relate to rituals in life where our own state of being is thought to change. Such as from childhood to adult status, graduation from student to professional, or even promotion within the work place.
This documentation of these maze-like passages, loosely follows the Taoist idea that it is the journey itself, rather than the perceived goal, which is of the utmost importance.
The personal symbolism which has developed in visualizing
these passages involve the contrast of interior and exterior spaces as
well as using opposing images or icons representing either movement/transition
or stability. Other ideas involve signals, walls, communication or the
idea of "home". On the purely formal level, considerations such
as texture, geometric and architectural space as well as the physical
variety of form are important elements in keeping the work on its own
journey.
