As if making work about house structures weren't enough, I have been endeavoring to make numerous improvements to my actual home. Below is a progress-report of my garage-to-studio renovation, which when complete will serve as a modest but very comfortable 250sq ft studio with 12' ceilings and in-floor radiant heat. The process has managed to conflate the concept of dwelling with the practicalities of inhabitation for me, posing ever-more provocative questions.
A domestic discourse drives the focus of my work. I make individual objects and fabricate the character and structure of the environments that contain these objects with the two endeavors in perpetual dialogue. Working within consistent parameters of materiality, composition and methods of display, I explore subject matter that focuses on the concepts of comfort and survival which seem inexorably linked in a domestic sphere. The home is the location where our most personal comforts reside, and where sentimentality mingles with practicality.
Comfort: I am compelled by the concept of creating and controlling personal comfort - a limitless task, as needs and desires fluctuate.
Survival: Is a concept that for me rivals comfort, and at times obfuscates priorities. Where does base-necessity leave off and a level of comfort in subsistence begin?
My material associations and my research of domestic objects (from both anthropological and design perspectives) serve to inform in finer strokes, the look and feel of my work. My work is at once an examination and an anthology of domestic activities and comforts; in drawing aspects of my work together as installations, I have attempted to create a consolidated view of a space, one that is summarized into 'kit' form. Such views frame a structure within which to distill what is most essential to me in the establishment, maintenance and character of a home. I am motivated in my quest to evaluate and distill by a desire to be able to feel at home anywhere.