Recollection/Re-Collection: a Re-positioning of Artificial Nature in the Natural World

ABSTRACT In this body of work I explore the division between our experiences with nature in a controlled environment versus the less frequent experience of true nature. I concern myself with the distance we create for ourselves by diminishing our interactions with nature, making them convenient, not messy or intrusive. I also attempt to resensitize the viewer to his or her own conscious or unconscious response to nature. By setting up situations that utilize both real and artificial objects, images and materials, I place the viewer in a relationship with the work that requires thoughtful attention. Through the creation of symbols and fictional spaces, the prints and two-dimensional works function as indexes of objects and memory. Using the visual language of line and drawing, these fictional landscapes are both unusual, and grounded in the familiar. They are unusual in that they depict illogical scenarios that are often confusing and unexpected, and familiar in that I use recognizable and common elements of the landscape. In my sculpture I use commercially produced, artificial facsimiles that function as stand-ins for nature. I parody these materials to sensitize the viewer to their absurdity. In doing so I question these material\u27s role in our lives as well as their cultural purpose. In my thesis I address societal issues that run contrary to my sense of responsibility as part of humankind. My artwork provides me with the opportunity to explore these issues in a tangible way. My practice is to embrace the absurd, accept the unexpected and re-present it in a way so as to examine its validity and role in my life. I show my examinations of these situations through my art and encourage others to examine their observations and assumptions as well