Statement of Intent

           The central questions of my practice consistently probe sites and systems of meaning. I am interested in understanding the tools of meaning-making as a personal prerequisite for both appreciating and producing art. I see digital media as the prime platform for experimentation with abstract systems of meaning given the discreet nature of data and the procedural language of coding.
           Since beginning my MFA in Digital Media Arts at the University of Florida I have been exploring the nature of carbon as a building block for my artistic practice and a metaphor for the larger artistic processes which construct meaning. I see my experiments with traditional media as an analogue to digital processes which deconstruct systems into readable instructions, directions, or games. So far, two patterns have emerged: the highly seductive "bottomless" system in which meaning proliferates endlessly, snowballing out of control, and the "topped" system in which meaning is resisted entirely.
           At the Atlantic Center for the Arts I hope to work toward translating my recent work into a series of small digital projects. I have an affinity towards both coding and text based artwork and I hope to experiment with Actionscript to create websites in which code, text, and the pixel may be analyzed as expressive marks and metaphors for the various ways in which meaning is generated. Both John Baldessari and Sol Lewitt's work with instructional text will be a launching point for these puzzles.
           In addition, I am concerned as to the nature of systems in relation to audience participation and agency. The seductive quality of apparent intrinsic meaning within systems is as problematic as it is pleasurable. What and why do systems mean? Do we as artists and audience members have a responsibility to understand how this meaning is generated and proliferated within artwork? What are the political implications of metaphor, figure, allegory, and irony?


List of Artists / Writers

I am interested in artists, critics, and writers who problematize my work and ideas. Theory becomes a utility for me in this way.

            1. Gregory Ulmer - My work with Dr. Ulmer at UF explores his "CATTt Generator" as a heuretic system of invention.
            2. Douglas R. Hofstadter - Hofstadter's "Strange Loops" inspire many of my assignments when teaching animation.
            3. George Lakoff - In order to understand the phenomenon of metaphor more clearly I've been reading Lakoff's essays.
            4. Joseph Beuys - I've always been intrigued and mystified by Beuys' work and the patterns that emerge from his practice.
            5. Matthew Barney - For me, Barney's systems amplify the figural and attempt representation of the artmaking process.

Proceed