Column for Publication
I was trained as a painter and became a sculptor. These two experiences lead me to creating large-scale, site-specific installations for public spaces, installations using my previous experience to fashion color, light, and time. Because I desired to work on a large scale it was necessary for me to pursue commissions to cover the expense such a scale requires.
The challenge of doing commissions is to reconcile the brief you are given by your commissioners with the compulsion you have for expressing your vision. I discovered the key was to listen carefully to the client’s concerns and to address those points when presenting my proposal. I found I can do the work I wished if I could successfully answer their concerns. This process of reconciliation was usually realized during the research phase of the site’s history, use, or physical features.
Important aspects of my installations are scale, interaction of 2-D and 3-D space, and time as expressed by the speed and spacing the serial elements are viewed. The latter element of time provides a fourth dimension to the work giving it a cinematic character.
Scale is so important to how we view objects. The more scale departs from the human scale (5-6 feet in any dimension), the more powerful the object becomes. Increasing or decreasing scale can cause scale to dominate all other aesthetic elements, making the work impressive by its size alone, but not able to hold our attention in the long term. It is a trap of which one needs to be conscious.
I use color and space to play two and three dimensions off each other. Colors add vibration to the spaces in which they interact, and create what I call “short spaces” between themselves. My use of three-dimensional space (deep space) creates distance between individual elements of the installation and the viewer. I use this space to employ speed and time as the viewer passes by or through the work.
In the end, to the viewer, the primary element of the completed work is most often its “meaning.” This is a question I feel uncomfortable answering because in creating imagery it is my hope the images I see, feel and experience will leave room for the viewer to bring their own history and experiences to create their unique view of the work and a unique, personal, meaning to its imagery.
I have been fortunate over the years to have had commissions allowing me to do work of the scale and scope I find so gratifying. It is increasingly difficult to find the opportunities I have had at my start because of the decreased number of public commissions, and reduced funding for those that do exist. I have seen public art funding increasingly used for the design of public amenities such as benches, gardens, and other utilitarian elements, all worthy in their own way, but not necessarily with more spiritual impact than “art for art’s sake”. In the last several years I have teamed with the renowned lighting designer, Howard Brandston, to turn the tables on this situation by joining my work with his. Together we potentiate each other’s work and avail ourselves of wider opportunities. Collaborations of this order will become increasingly common if the field of public art is to advance.
Background & Information
I am mostly known for my installations created for public spaces in the United States, Ireland, and the UK. A few of my clients include the Government of Northern Ireland UK, The National Roads Authority of the Republic of Ireland, and public authorities in Boston, St Louis, New York, and New Jersey. My public works are often serial in nature and range in size from a few hundred feet up to a quarter mile in length. They are often light reflective and highly colored, making them visible at night as well as by day. They are animated, much like a flipbook, as the viewer passes by or through them. The last collaboration with Howard Brandston (2015-2017) was a permanent installation along the complete length of Jefferson Street in downtown Syracuse, NY.
Based on work we began to develop ten years before while creating a temporary installation for the City of Cork in the Republic of Ireland during its celebration as the European Capital of 2005. The present installation is larger, more complex, and more fully realized as a new paradigm for urban street lighting. It was sponsored by Syracuse University with the support of New York State, the building owners adjacent to the site, and the City of Syracuse. Our task was to attract pedestrians to stroll and join the evening street-life from City Hall at Columbus Circle to Armory Square.
Our long-term aim is to eliminate existing streetlights designed to illuminate roadways. Rather, we put our focus on illuminating the walkways, storefronts and landscaping by lighting the street from the rooftops above. This creates a safer, more appealing environment for the city to become a comfortable “living” space.