“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

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.  Beyond other external inspiration lies this basic, primal impulse. 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. Obvious sexual references, along with an extravagant, fetish-like attention to surface, can arouse a yearning to touch as powerful as the act itself. In this way a parallel can be drawn with pornography -- my first encounter with Playboy, for example, as an 8-year-old. My emotional response, pure and utter fascination, depended upon a compelling desire to experience flesh. When one views such imagery, I would argue that one is, at the very least, thinking about touching — about how it would feel. I want my work to elicit a similar response: “What if I could touch it?”

I am searching for a fresh perspective. I strive to create an object I've never quite seen before - one whose inherent mystery and intrigue quietly insists upon viewer interaction. An object begging to be explored and examined in much the same way a child investigates the world: with wonder, curiosity, and also trepidation. It’s important that the work be challenging. A sense of unease is critical because it encourages the viewer to consider carefully what they are seeing – at what is compelling them. I would like my work to exist not as the ubiquitous "art object", but as something more enigmatic - foreign yet familiar, handmade yet somehow organic. Rather than suggest nature, in my own way I am seeking to create it.