I am thrilled to be included in DZINE Gallery’s latest exhibition, “X Materia” on view in San Francisco through April 2019. My “Wunderkammer” installation is comprised of miscellaneous materials collected from around the world since 2001 that have been cast in epoxy resin. The collection includes rocks, pebbles, sand, dirt, glass, brick, concrete, dried animal bone, rusted WWII chain, screws, maps, and more. The title and aesthetic of this installation is inspired from the European Cabinets of Curiosities. Also known as ‘wonder rooms’, they were small collections of extraordinary objects which, like today’s museums, attempted to categorize and tell stories about the wonders and oddities of the natural world. Each piece has its own unique history. It is a continuation of my exploration of nontraditional self portraits.
In total, the collection represents 18 years, 15 countries, and 5 continents.
Monet's Garden, Giverny, France - July 2007 (Part I and 2)・2.25"L x 2.25"W x .5"D
“X Materia features works of art in various media concerned with material and place. The show explores these themes through: the direct engagement of earth-bound materials such as carbon, wax, graphite and salt; an examination of the disparate meanings attributed to location and landscape: from the awe-inspiring natural world, to those urban in-between places often overlooked; an examination of the social dynamics of those who inhabit a place and the impersonal perspectives by drones and surveillance satellites; and the very building blocks and underlying mathematical equations that govern all things.
The title for this presentation, X Materia, takes its name from the Latin, “Creatio ex Materia”, or creation out of matter, or material; the premise being that existing material is transformed into something else – not unlike the process of artistic creation. This idea has been the subject of theosophical debate, and even in scientific inquiry (what came before the Big Bang?). The letter ‘X’ is unique in that it contains numerous contradictory definitions – the known and unknown – of location (“X marks the spot”) and as the unknown variable (in algebraic equations), and so much more. The “X” for the purpose of this exhibition represents how each artist, through works of art in various media, addresses the numerous and often contradictory issues associated with material and place.”
- Curator Philip Bewely
