I can explain,
just…put down the weapon.
Artist Statement
“The French say that the best part of an affair is going up the stairs. Desire is almost always more thrilling than fulfillment.”
-Tom Robbins
At 8 years old I saw my first Playboy spread. The nature of that experience — pure, primal, and singular — remains a catalyst. These were clearly magazine photos — flat images on semi-gloss stock — but my instinctive response was to embrace the nude; I held her page to my chest in a delusional bear hug. My imagination went haywire.
On one level, my work is part of an ongoing effort to document and expand upon that adolescent moment. Though my objects contain strong visual references, I am more interested in the implied tactile ones; the things that stir in me a compulsion to touch. While manipulating porcelain, I recognize, and act upon, a profound desire to push, poke, squeeze, stroke, caress, and pinch. I intend for my pieces to invoke a similar sort of temptation: to dare the viewer to touch.
Or better yet, to imagine touching.