I have been exploring the world of plants out of my back door for several years. My photographic work is heavily inspired by the bold contrast of light, shadow and texture in the chiaroscuro paintings of the Renaissance.
The majority of my recent nature photography concerns itself with native plants but I have a huge spot for the magnificence of lilies. I grow dozens of varieties and am constantly fascinated by them. There is something so bold and elegant about this common ornamental flower.
The Genocide Project is a multi-part artistic exploration of modern violence.
Genocide doesn’t happen here. Throughout history, every country and every people has repeated this to itself. Yet genocide continues to happen with a surprising regularity. The atrocity is always somewhere else, and we are far too civilized to let that happen here. Eventually, it seems, things change and people find themselves confronting the unimaginable, often in a state of denial. But afterward, even during, we hear ourselves saying “never again.”
A poster created for the Poster Offensive – an exhibition of posters exploring political themes. I wanted to show a comparison of military spending by major countries under a quote from Abraham Lincoln.
An exploration of a sunset on Lake Superior taken from a kayak. One of my early explorations with the painterly aspects of digital photography. Printed on canvas and arranged in blocks this project blurred the lines between digital and analog.
A collection of photos with a gas works in the distance. Again exploring the more painterly aspects of photography.
I Am is a video installation examining marketing, demographic segmentation, psychographics and identity in this, the age of the focus group. We see ourselves as individuals, yet in the end we are categorized, niched and reduced to our basic demographic makeup.
Outside Looking Inside, Outside is an interactive sculpture that explores ideas of privacy, identity and surveillance technology.
This project is dedicated to the obscenely devoted and to those who create their own private devotional universes.
In modern times, long-held beliefs about the “authenticity” or originality of the self have been challenged in many arenas, including art, science, and philosophy. The word authentic is often defined by its synonyms “real” and “genuine.” Though both these terms are abstract, the term “authentic” is meant to be the antithesis of abstraction: the “real” as in the “real me” or a “real experience.” Technological developments from the telephone to cyberspace seem to reproduce yet fundamentally change the self, deconstructing, encoding, remaking it in the very processes of using these technologies.
Examining persuasion, power and control in this age of technological punditry, Listen to Me is a humorous interactive sculpture.
The public sculpture The Franconia Mound was a site specific piece situated at the Franconia Sculpture Park in rural Minnesota.
Effect & Essence is an exploration in to the physical and the virtual — delving subtly into issues of authenticity, representation, technology and time. The installation consists of three rows of five large stones. Three of the stones are virtual and are represented by one large, and two small video, monitors. The large monitor displays a computer generated image of a suspended stone.
The installation piece Fire In Place is an exploration into our attempts to tame and control of fire and nature.
In an exploration of the juxtaposition of organic and inorganic materials, I developed the Hanging Ash with Text pieces. The original 18 pieces were created for a 1995 solo show at the now defunct International Gallery of Contemporary Art in Minneapolis. This piece was also shown as part of a residency with the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan.
The installation Communication Revolution was one of my early works and one of the first to deal with my now familiar issues of authenticity and perception. The piece was created and presented in 1994 for the group show Art Beyond the 3D at the Katherine Nash Gallery in Minneapolis.
