"Artist's" Statement

This is what I had to say about myself for the Private Arts show. I'm still not sure I qualify as an artist and I hope it doesn't sound too pompous!

A while back, while working at my design firm Hinge, I found myself drawn one day to a beautifully sculptured, rusted crankshaft discarded behind our building. Soon, I was collecting rusted metal of all sizes, particularly pieces that resembled letters of the alphabet. I have always prided myself in being able to appreciate the unusual or absurd and finding beauty in cast-off objects seemed to suit me well.

After years of “rust harvesting,” my collection of rusted metal and other found objects have finally started to find themselves being combined into sculptural objects or scanned on a flatbed scanner to produce abstract works of what I hope might be considered “art.” I particularly enjoy taking something small and seemingly insignificant and blowing it up to find the hidden textures, thereby giving it new meaning and significance. If my work can also produce a smile or a puzzled look from a viewer, then all the better.

What I’m best at is spotting things. I love the feeling of finding beauty in something that others have ignored. Like the design work I do, if I can make someone stop and take a look at something, you’ve done your job.