" We live on the same planet. The fact is we can't escape our body. That's all we have." -Ernesto Neto
"Everything...conspired to skew one's expectations, to raise some and lower others... so that you perceived the room as you otherwise might not have." - Robert Irwin
All of my work is site-specific and much of it invites physical interaction from the viewer. A lot of my work is inspired by or created in water, whether it is informed by the way water might fill a given space (as in Half Spaces: 49 Jane St., Apt. 5E , 2003) or uses water as a backdrop for thousands of floating plastic balls.
Most of my pieces have a life and a death and therefore do not physically exist after their time is up. For this reason, documentation has become a vital part of my work. I use photography, video, and sometimes drawing to document my installations.
All of my installations are titled after the location in which they exist, because I see them as a way of altering a specific space or landscape by adding a foreign element.
In Terrace, people walked into a gallery off a busy Barcelona street, and after walking up 2 flights of stairs, found themselves in an outdoor space filled with balls up to their thighs. The balls acted like water or snow. They formed drifts and were manipulated by the wind. I'm interested in creating situations like this; where these artificial objects are governed by natural forces.
In Didrichsen's Pond , people were invited to swim with 28,000 plastic balls. As you swam, you could hear sound of thousands of balls bumping softly against each other. Everyone can experience a physical sensation and the relationship between their body and the surrounding environment.
I like the concept of people having to sacrifice their physical comfort for the architecture of a space. The white spandex I use for the Divided Spaces transforms the space into a kind of landscape. I hope the divided spaces will lead us to question the ways we divide, designate and experience space, and the structures we create to contain it.
My work is not a way of competing with nature, or a way of beautifying it. It is a dialogue with a place, just a brief conversation with a landscape. None of the pieces last for very long. Plastic is a material that is very artificial and does not degrade easily. Yet there is no way for these structures to endure. Water or air in their many states will eventually break them down.
Born in Vermont in 1978, now living and working in Brooklyn.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
2007 31 Baldwin to Beverly & Cecil Streets, Nuit Blanche, Toronto Canada Curated by Michelle Jaques
S202 (south Wing) Divided into Cubic Yards, For Clifton Place, Project Room, P.S.1 Curated by Nick Stillman
2006 Swing Space: Pier 17, LMCC, New York City
2005 West 23rd:Ground Floor, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York City
2004 Half Spaces: 207 Franklin St., #1, Site Specific Installation, New York City
North Gallery, Caren Golden Fine Art, New York City
2002 La Roca Grossa, La Costa de Mareseme, Spain
Terrace , Galería Senda, Barcelona
2001 Didrichsen's Pond, South Londonderry, Vermont
Cook Brook, South Londonderry, Vermont
The Ball Room, Chaos Gallery, Colorado Springs, Colorado
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 A Brief Encounter, Caren Golden Fine Art, NYC
Ornament, BravinLee Programs, NYC
A Great Delicacy, Taylor de Cordoba Gallery, Los Angeles, curated by Melissa Levin
This is That, Pace University , NYC & Westchester, curated by Michelle Loughlin
Water, Voltz Clarke Gallery, Salvatore Ferragamo, NYC, curated by Blair Voltz Clarke
McKendree Key & John Stoney, Caren Golden Fine Art
2006 501 Lexington, The Lab, NYC (Curator)
Studio in the Park, Riverside Park, NY Curated by Karin Bravin
The Metaphysics of Youth, Pescara, Italy Curated by Luigi Fassi and Irina Zucca
Soft Sites, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia Curated by Sara Reisman
In-Practice, The Sculpture Center, LIC, NY Curated by Anthony Huberman
20MB, MASS Gallery, Austin Texas, Curated by Aaron Dubrow and M.F. Tichy
2005 New Turf, The Fleming Museum, University of Vermont Curated by Evelyn C. Hankins
Breaking Ground, The New York Horticultural Society, New York City Curated by Jodie Vicenta Jacobson
Gigantic, The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
Crossed Circuits, The Hogar Collection, Brooklyn, NY
2004 Projects '04, Islip Art Museum, Long Island, NY
Outdoor Project Space, Branchville Gallery, Group Exhibition, Ridgefield, CT
Broyhill Music Hall, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts, Group Exhibition, Boone, NC
2003 EAF Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Group Exhibition, New York City
AIM 23, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Group Exhibition, New York City
2002 Summer, Galería Alter Ego, Group Exhibition, Barcelona
2001 Pasture, The City Auditorium, the re.production, Colorado Springs, Colorado
EDUCATION
2005 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
1997-2001 The Colorado College
Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art with Honors
AWARDS/RESIDENCIES
2006 CUE Art Foundation Studio Residency, New York
2005 Swing Space, LMCC, New York
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
2004 NYFA Artist Fellowship
Rosen Artist, Rosen Competition & Exhibition, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
2003 Emerging Artist Fellowship Award, Socrates Sculpture Park
"Artist in the Marketplace" program, The Bronx Museum of the Arts
2002 The Visual Artist's Full Fellowship Award, The Vermont Studio Center
2001 The Mary Chenoweth Award in Art, The Colorado College
2000 The Colorado College Award in Literature
The Craig Herst Art Scholar Award, The Colorado College
Colorado College Venture Grant
1999 Reville Fiction Prize, Honorary Mention, The Colorado College
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2007 McKendree Key @ PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Greggory Bradford, Whitehot Magazine, 2007
2006 In Riverside Park, the Art's in Bloom, Carol Vogel, The New York Times, 2006
2005 Finding Her Own, Seven Days, Pamela Polston, 2005
New Turf Exhibition Catalogue
Public Art By The Book, Barbara Goldstein, 2005
WCAX-TV, 4 Minute Segment & Interview. Burlington, VT
2004 "Projects' 04", The New York Times
Featured Fellow, NYFA Quarterly
Half Spaces: Review, Minus Space, www.minusspace.com
2003 "Decorating the Shore", The New York Sun
"Market Share", The Village Voice
"From Small Sculptures...", The New York Times
2003 "Don't Miss...", Time Out New York
"AIM 23" Exhibition Catalogue, Group Exhibition, The Bronx Museum of the Arts
2002 TV3- Barcelona TV network, 3 minute segment
Una Artista Nord-Americana..., El Punt, Independent Newspaper of Catalunya
BTV- Barcelona TV, 7 minute segment and interview
Swimming in Art, The Barcelona Metropolitan Magazine
McKendree Key Anima la Calle..., www.ubicarte.com
2001 "Going With the Flow", The Rutland Herald, Vermont
"Diving Into an Adult-size Ball Pit", The Gazette, Colorado Springs