Description
Carve Me Free of This Wilderness is a collection of experiments, video documentations and sculptural objects relating to themes about nature and landscape. My work is a record of my recent journey of personal explorations that has resulted in a profound shift from traditional modes of expression, drawing and painting, to more ephemeral methods such as "action digging," unauthorized excavations in highly contested open spaces, which results in memory displacement/replacement, spontaneous social encounters and incidents, and "action sculptures." Transformation of a space is representative of the dig works. The digging is generated by a personal reaction to a space or place, with the action of digging as a vocalization through excavation toward the state and condition of the site upon its discovery. The transformation phase is acts that can be interpreted as integrated theater and performance, earthworks and social interactions that are instigated through soil displacement and video documentation. Modification is a site-specific action of large earthen structures in a space. The earthen structures are large rectangular walls constructed of earth and residual materials excavated from the dig site. Each structure incorporates a negative space window that acts as a framing device in a natural setting. Reevaluation, using mud, seed, and plant materials, views landscape as simulacra. Materials from the dig site are used to fashion models that mimic the landscape in San Diego County by using materials from specific locales in the county and shaping these models by means of wind and water erosion. The resultant effect is a sculpting of the model's contours and the creation of a terrain in microcosm. This body of work is representative of a continuing and broad evolution of discovery that is fueled by a need to self-educate and expand my understanding of my place within the grander scope of space. The body of work that composes Carve Me Free of This Wilderness was displayed in the Jackson Gee Gallery at San Diego State University from November 30 to December 6, 2012. Images of this thesis project are on file at the Slide Library of the School of Art, Design, and Art History at San Diego State University.
