Cataclyst

My intent as an artist is to create immersive narrative environments in which the observer can actively participate in a sense-enhancing, mind shaking experience. This approach was solidified, after I attended a lecture by professor Siegfried Zielinski, in which he discussed how artists do not need to be their own theorists: Rather, he argued, we have a capacity to ‘sum’ all of the things around us, to filter that sum through our particular internal artistic lens, and then to articulate our vision in the form of art-work. I was captivated by this idea of “summation”, as it expressed a concept which I had felt intuitively, but had not yet recognized and identified. “Summation” alleviates my need to completely explain my conceptual intentions: I found this useful, as I can now focus more on creating work instead of struggling with why I want to make it and what I want to say with it. I also find that the true conceptual intention can’t always be clarified until the project is underway, and once it is underway, I gain insight into why I wanted to embark on the journey of this project in the first place. My immersive environments provide a space that suspends reality and reconnects the viewer with something internal that they have become disconnected with. My manifesto, available on my website, is a wild and disjunctive, yet in-depth look at the premises on which my work is based. I create work revolving around my current understanding of the world, which admittedly contains some misguided and even over-exaggerated prophecies that life as we know it will soon come to a crashing end, and we will be forced to change our way of living and interrelating. This hypothesis, based on collected analysis of the earth and society, is the thread that weaves my various projects together. While the sum of my projects is admittedly part of a much larger concept, the works I create also function as stand alone entities. I create art that moves beyond object, beyond medium, and beyond the media, eliciting visceral responses through carefully constructed environments grounded in analysis and prophecy, enhanced by theoretical science. The science component of creation enters my realm, as I have the need to work with engineers and scientists to create the technical components of the environments, which are needed to convey my messages. Within the context of my multi-media projects, the subject matter remains pliable --a puzzle of sorts, as big or as small as the viewer chooses to embrace. I also feel it very important that my work is approachable on a global level, and that stimulation is the foundation and necessary launching pad to such approachability. As such, it is my hope that the observer’s personal reflection will inform their interpretation of the work. This fluidity of interpretation bridges a narrow gap between art and human proclivity, thereby facilitating excitement if not an understanding of my predictions.