The string sculptures (2006 to present) span multiple bodies of work. In all of them tension and gravity are used as structural support and they depend on the architecture of the space: attaching at the ceilings and walls or weighted and resting on the floor. Materials such as string, thread, brass bars, nails, screws, and gold elastic are used in conjunction with these forces to sculpt forms ranging from the geometric to the organic. The frailty of the spare materials and their light visual presence contrast with the works substantial phenomenological power questioning the politics of perception across abstraction, figuration, and representation.

Installation View of Sun Column (2013) from The Dislocated Center of the Material World at the Galveston Artist Residency exhibition space. Two elements: red thread and two brass bars, tan thread and two brass bars, each element 8 feet x 12 inches x 1/4 inch. Installation dimensions variable.

Human-scale sculptures

This ongoing body of work of human-scale sculptures marks a decade long investigation into abstraction, figuration, and the politics of observation. These thread sculptures hang from ceiling to floor allowing the viewer to circumvent them. Gravity is paired with the weight of brass bars to create the subtle tension relationships that make these forms. They are not permanently fixed, though they are exactingly arranged. The sculptures appear to shift form as the viewer changes position, resisting stasis; a plane curves from one angle of sight but appears flat from another.

With sustained engagement complexities emerge through position and proximity shifts which alter initial visual evaluations, countering the idea a comprehensive view from a single perspective. Set in figurative forms, these abstract works call for a critical ethics of visual assessment while simultaneously encouraging us to relish in the dynamic possibilities of encountering ever-unknown aspects of each other.

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Detail of Black Wave, 2013, Black string, white thread, and screws, 15 feet x 32 feet x 8 feet.

Waves

These monumental string and thread installations primarily use gravity to create their forms. Swooping curvilinear lines distinguish these works from the other bodies of string sculptures, along with their scale.

In The Potential in Waves Colliding the form is based on sound wave interaction and shows two waves about to meet. By registering visually only when in close proximity, this large-scale installation is impossible to see at a distance; it disappears. Material presence and absence is at the forefront while incorporating visual interference and sound wave representation.

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