We spend our days surrounded by
people. On the streets, on the bus, at work, in class, at the store, on the bus
again, day after day. Nowhere in our increasingly global world is urban growth
slowing down. As I find space in public is lacking, I look for the shapes and
forms that emerge as space is exchanged for people. In my work, I deal with the
frenzied movement and mundane routines that create urban life.
There is something intriguing in
a mass of individuals. The movement and energy within crowds echoes the concept
of the “noumenon” found in Kant’s philosophy: the “unknown something.” This
body of work seeks to evoke a sense of the potential for awe found in common
cities and crowds. The layers, rhythms, and abstractions depicted in the crowds
leave the impression that there may be more than is first discerned by the
senses. Focusing on visual movement and space, people lose their individuality
as they merge into a larger, grander structure. A new form emerges as
individuality is exchanged for community, as people move towards something
universal, hoped for, eternal – namely the hope that our space and movement,
our being and doing, will become something monumental and lasting. Beauty
emerges out of chaos, gravity settles amidst brevity, and community rises out
of commotion.