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My work explores fictional stories, cultural circumstance and ritual through the mediums of sculpture, printmaking and more recently, video. I consciously draw from personal experience, contemporary Ikebana and design principles to shape the inner logic of the art I create. My recent work explores the delicate nature and history of tattered and frayed vintage kimono clothing which were gifted to me or collected over the years. As I intuitively fold, cut and sew the kimonos, they ultimately form a conduit to explore abstract landscapes and shapes, and create objects of personal and cultural identity. My image making process situates itself between American and Japanese cultures, both of which are an innate part of my being. The blend of this geographical and cultural dichotomy has evolved within my growth as an artist and the resulting body of work pays tribute to the history, tradition, and kitsch of the Japanese culture from an ancient temple set against a sublime mountain range to the counter-culture world of “Hello Kitty” and to the modern space and contemporary contextualization of American post-modernism. My work uses the metaphor of the cosmos and more specifically that of the landscape to represent my apprenticeship of folklore, culture, and ritual. I am a practitioner of the ancient art of Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), the constant search for the balanced relationship between the sky, the earth and man; a parallel to my own personal spiritual journey. |
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