Untitled (barrier study II), 2016

HDU, lacquer, flocking

8″ x 8″ x 3″

My recent series of sculptures titled <frontiers> is a study of the topography, politics, and ethos of the contemporary American west that began as a response to some of the dangerous rhetoric that surfaced during the 2016 presidential campaign. The works in this series explore the landscape through the language of the architectural model; a proposition that examines the potential and consequence of a course of action. Ranging in scale from a small wall-based piece just a few inches across to an eight-foot-tall barrier, these works merge scales of the model with that of reality, suggesting a deeper potential within the everyday. These works present hybrid forms that explore the American west as a new site of conflict – at the center of debates regarding immigration, property rights, water rights, and political boundaries – and as an archetype of the American identity.