Nature & Culture

---

 Paper, bark, metal, arrow heads; 2009. 

Obsidian, seed pods, soil, paper; 2009.

Cactus, All Thorn bush, computer circuit board; 27"x9"x8"; 1994. 

"Evolution" is an imaginary recreation of the early life forms that colonized the Earth. Wood, shells, found objects; 6' diameter, 1998. 

Rusted metal and look-alike dried kelp are combined to blur the boundary between nature and culture. Rusted metal; 4' x 9'; 2006.

Hornet nest paper, 2009.

Wood, cow horns; 13' x 17" x 8"; 1998.

This work has been created out of the paper from a hornet nest. It emphasizes the architectural structure of the nest. Wasp paper, wood; 25" x 25" x 3"; 1999. 

"Excavation" is a trompe l'oeil piece. Half of the circle is composed of cactus fragments and rusted metal pieces that are painted to look like the cactus fragments. The other half of the circle is composed of rusted metal and cactus fragments that are painted to look like the rusted metal. It is virtually impossible to distinguish between the manmade objects and the natural objects, thereby blurring the distinction between them. Cactus, metal; 6' diameter; 1998.

"Treasure Chest" is another blend of natural and manmade objects. An old box has been collaged with hornet nest paper and fitted with pine branch legs. In its drawers is a collection of plant and animal materials. Wood, hornet nest paper, natural objects; 12"x7"x11"; 1993.

Computer, cactus bark, paint; 24"x20"x25"; 1994.

Cow vertebrae, calculator, plaster; 7"x8"x12"; 1994.

"Butterfly Joy": 24" x 18" x 1 1/2"; stones, glass, paper, paint, plastic; 2016. Two Native American dancers morph into butterflies.

 Untitled: 20" x 16" x 2 1/4"; cactus slices, mica sheets, coins, paper; 2016.
This piece is an interplay between Nature and Culture. The dried cactus slices echo the Chinese characters.

This is Art analyzing Science analyzing Nature. It makes visible the analytical methodology at the heart of the scientific endeavor. We take our measuring, probing, dissecting, and classifying for granted, as "the way things are." We forget that these are recent cultural constructs. 

In "Golden Oldies" an old car radio found in the desert is combined with cactus bark to create a hybrid nature/culture object. Car radio, cactus bark; 20"x10"x5'; 1994. 

Wood, shells, artificial pearls; variable dimensions; 2000.

This elegant series of coffee stains on mathematical jottings brings new meaning to mathematician Alfréd Rényi's comment that "a mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems." This particular coffee-drinking mathematician fills hundreds of pieces of scratch paper with his notations in the process of creating his theorems. The scratch paper is then used to drain coffee filters. If coffee hadn't been invented, these theorems might not exist. 

"Nature Unveiling Herself (or how we got to where we are)"; 30" x 22" x 4"; found objects, paper, paint, clay, wood; 2016.
Playing off a sculpture of a similar title by Louis-Ernest Barrias, this work explores the philosophical underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution. Philosophers, such as Francis Bacon, viewed the Earth as inert and mechanistic, to be exploited for its resources. They likened Earth to a woman who needed to be seduced and subdued. This view still underpins our current industrial capitalist mode of resource extraction, production and consumption. One result has been the rapid climate change happening today.