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The Weight of Wonder
This project explores the vulnerability of living within systems of pressure beyond our control. Drawing on a road trip through the landscapes of my life, geology offers a lens for thinking about pressure over time, as does Wile E. Coyote, who inhabits the same red rock formations I have long looked to as models. Repeatedly blown up, flattened, and thrown from cliffs, he endures each disaster much as we endure personal, societal, and existential traumas—imperfectly.
In my practice, I explore ways of relinquishing control through chance, collaboration, attentiveness and artist-decentered art-making. Timed, double-handed blind contour drawings—sometimes made upside down, without looking at the paper—destabilize artistic mastery. Wind-activated ink drawings emerge through collaborations between human intention and atmospheric forces, becoming part of triptychs that express various forms of exerted force (atmospheric, geological, and via cartoon physics). Other works allow time, light and shadow to guide the outcome. A sculptural piece confronts the illusion of control over circumstances that exceed our limits. Throughout, the exhibition finds moments of trauma and wonder within landscapes and systems shaped by pressure. Ultimately, this project considers how to make art responsibly within a fraught and worthy world.