Operable Chambers; Rods and Spheres, 2.1

One of things I like about your work is its beauty. How do you feel about the place of beauty in your work?

I’m generally disposed toward complexity and exquisite detail, which hover somewhere between beauty and the grotesque. I often look to densely orchestrated systems, rich, fantastic language or intricate, visceral forms. A certain reverberation happens when we’re challenged cognitively or emotionally but I’m not completely sure how to define that. Perhaps it’s beauty, perhaps it’s something else. Someone once commented that they were simultaneously attracted and repelled by my work. For me, that nuance offered insight into why things linger for us.

I assume you’re not just talking about art anymore?

It’s likely that I’m never just talking about art.

Does this tension between attraction and repulsion somehow enhance our experiences?

I think we stay engaged when any disparate or contradictory reaction occurs. Perception is inherently fickle, but some things just tend to stick around. That’s more likely to happen when a singular definition is not so easy to find.