For nearly two decades I have been interested in making sculpture using natural materials that I find mostly in the woods surrounding my home in North Branch, New York. I was first inspired by fallen branches that were snagged by others on descent, then left to dangle out of place, newly configured: instant sculpture in the woods. In a similar way, the only things holding my earlier sculptures together were the force of gravity and the lift of balance, one branch nearly on the verge of falling yet held in suspension on a single point. More recently with the introduction of string into my work, other things interest me now:
how the string’s tension becomes my “glue”
how the branches stretch and angle the string
how precariously sturdy the sculptures seem until my elbow inadvertently knocks it or the cat becomes too curious
how the weight of the rocks grounds the sculptures and allows for the lift and rise of the branches
how the string cuts and draws through space charging the surrounding air into weightless volumes
The most recent work from April 2019 is different from that in previous years. The element of tension is still central, but due to space limitations of the gallery these works hug the wall and do not reach into the interior space at all. As a result the walls themselves become essential elements of the work, the three- dimensional “canvas” so to speak. Completely site-specific, the works are not individually framed but form a visual continuum throughout the gallery, one leading to the next, traversing the space and responsive to the fixed architectural features: doors, moulding, signs, fire alarms.
A few influences: I have always loved Alexander Calder’s work for its elegant sense of balance and whimsy, for the remarkable lightness of the forms and animated use of space. And oddly, the work of Richard Serra, though far afield in terms of its imposing physical weight and emotional gravity, was instrumental to me early on. His approach of allowing gravity to have its way in shaping materials recast my own thinking. More recently I am totally enchanted with Andy Goldsworthy’s ephemeral approach to using elements of nature, allowing them to shape his work and often re-claim it. And finally, one cannot stretch a piece of string across a room without invoking Fred Sandback, an artist whose minimal use of string to incisively carve through and enliven the surrounding space, has always interested me.