Portfolio
Artist Statement
Living Room Sofa
Color Photograph Type C, 10.5x10.5", ©2003
Den Monster Art
Color Photograph Type C, 10.5x10.5", ©2003
With this body of work, I hope to provoke a question: What is reality in the context of vast changes? Certainly, my own sense of safety, stability and connectedness has changed in the recent past, as well as my perception of government and the media. In my studio I built a shelter--a styled and perfect home in a context where I can control every variable--in miniature. I am the architect, decorator and stylist for an imaginary world that is frozen exactly as I'd like it to be. I present it to the viewer as my own alternate reality, unbending to the forces of war, terrorism, unemployment or the Dow Jones.
The photographs are details of realistic rooms. I built them in a one inch to one foot scale, but did not keep the scale completely uniform. Each has a very limited depth-of-field, created with my Hassalblad and an extension tube, to highlight only a narrow section of the setting. This is intended to give the photographs a sense of verisimilitude, but at the same time, make the reality questionable.
As I photographed the rooms, I moved furniture, changed items on tables, sometimes moved walls or windows. Each series created from a room includes narrative elements that engage the viewer in a visual dialogue or tell an open-ended story. It appears that unseen residents are leading their lives and leaving their mark on the rooms. I think of these photographs as an ongoing installation which is still under construction. At present I have built a teenager's bedroom, den, living room, master bedroom with meditation cove, dining room, kitchen and front hall. I hope the viewer will use these images to question their own views of security, comfort and perception.