Artist Statement
“The Measure of a Man”, is my third exhibition with this title and continues to be a theme that I am exploring. I am interested in examining ideas centered on our preoccupation of measuring and quantifying everything, and our habit of assigning personal value and self worth to these external conditions. I first came to these ideas in the process of caring for my terminally ill wife over her twelve-year odyssey with breast cancer. Our journey raised many questions about life and death, love, and the human condition.
Utilizing antique book covers, book pages, and especially wooden electricians rulers, I create line and define composition. Additionally the vintage rulers introduce a sense of nostalgia, as many of us remember this playful tool from our childhoods. I am interested in rendering this precision measuring tool useless in its original form and commenting about the futility of accumulating and assessing (the number friends on Facebook, money in bank accounts, the size of our homes and automobiles, for example). Associating these statistics with value to our self worth has become a preoccupation for many of us.
It is my hope that our journey includes realistic and compassionate expression of the treasures that we frequently take for granted: loving, and being loved, and the simple joy of music, art, and beauty that we are able to create, experience, and interpret.
Utilizing antique book covers, book pages, and especially wooden electricians rulers, I create line and define composition. Additionally the vintage rulers introduce a sense of nostalgia, as many of us remember this playful tool from our childhoods. I am interested in rendering this precision measuring tool useless in its original form and commenting about the futility of accumulating and assessing (the number friends on Facebook, money in bank accounts, the size of our homes and automobiles, for example). Associating these statistics with value to our self worth has become a preoccupation for many of us.
It is my hope that our journey includes realistic and compassionate expression of the treasures that we frequently take for granted: loving, and being loved, and the simple joy of music, art, and beauty that we are able to create, experience, and interpret.
