THE FINALISTS
THE PROPOSAL: "Lens Flare, Home or Office Edition"
I’d like to realize a long-time dream: to create an affordable, easy-to-install version of the Lens Flare mirror.
The original sculpture consists of a framed mirror with a sandblasted starburst design. To install the work, lights must be hidden in a hole cut in the wall. It’s a laborious installation—unrealistic for emerging collectors. I created a miniature, portable version, Lens Flare (Miniature Multiple), of paper to further distribute the idea, but it requires the viewer to hold the miniature up to light. I’ve always wanted to make a small illuminated version fit for the home.
In its most basic function, the lens flare mirror is an instrument for making people smile. I see the miniature as a distinct work that explores the social life of the original sculpture by inserting it more directly in to the world. Similarly, I see a Home or Office version of the mirror to have a more direct relationship with viewers’ lives. By having it in one’s home, it creates pause for self-reflection, and acts as a reminder to smile. It functions on a longer temporal basis.
As a light- and mirror-based sculpture, this project requires investments in materials and labor (frames, acrylic mirror, LED s, battery holders, wiring, frames, mirror, soldering and sandblasting facilities), but I think the result will be truly uncommon.
Artist Statement
I make installations, sculptures, multiples and works on paper to explore the competing pulls of optimism and pessimism. I use metaphors such as light and dark, words and meanings, and concept and material to investigate how our experiences of the world are shaped by our attitudes. I employ readymade materials, references to visual culture and straightforward techniques because I’m attracted to the inseparable poles of the mundane and the ineffable, of our daily lives and our ambitions.
My approach is strongly influenced by conceptual strategies and phenomenology. I’m interested in relationships: how an art object mediates a relationship between the artist and viewer, between multiple viewers, and between the viewer and his/her environment. I also conduct research on psychology, typography, sites and other areas of inquiry. This results in an experimental, idiosyncratic output—an “oeuvre, which entertains the possibility of perceiving contradiction and paradox, of imagining the ultimately unknowable or imperceptible—but always with a cheeky acknowledgment of the disingenuousness inherent in surface appearances” (Nirmala Nataraj/SFStation.com).
