Artist Statement
Sculpting with paper is (for me) like making a three dimensional drawing.  It is immediate, versatile and can be extremely precise.  I began using paper in my work because of financial necessity, as an undergraduate at the School of Visual Arts I would gather found corrugated cardboard to construct elaborate pieces inspired by architecture.  As my practice evolved I began to favor acid free paper in order to extend the life-span of my sculptures.


The majority of this body of work is comprised of life sized, free-standing figurative sculptures.
I see my artwork as stills from imagined films.  I envision a non-linear script comprised of hypnogogic imagery, daydreaming, jokes and fantasies.  While no subject is off limits, bodily functions, humor, popular entertainment, morbidity, and the spectacle of celebration are themes I often return to.  The paper sculptures are very fragile, they can be destroyed by the elements, they fade,  they expand and shrink with the weather and are easily crushed and torn by handling.  Because of this I began photographing my sculptures and painting their portraits.  The first of these experiments was called the Photobooth Series, where I constructed a series of six busts and corresponding painted backdrops that were installed behind the busts. I then photographed the installation so that a pristine version of the piece can co-exist alongside its decaying original.

Although I use a significant amount of source material while researching and sketching my ideas, I generally use anatomic guides only as a gentle suggestion.  I allow abstractions and distortions to take over once the layout has begun.  If you look closely at the sculptures, the entire under-structure is composed of hundreds of .5- 3” rolls of paper.  These components are intricately glued together, like a magnified, simplified, aesthetically composed cellular structure.  The surface ornamentation of the sculpture is as important as the structural elements. 
I tile the outer layer of my sculptures obsessively with individual fragments of paper, this treatment is intentionally intricate because what I find most interesting about skin, hair and fabrics on a microscopic level is that they are comprised of minute worlds of pattern and repetition.  When I exhibit the sculptures it is generally a site specific installation, each presentation can be very different according to the allotted space.  Occasionally, I exhibit the sculptures displayed in front of painted backdrops, in pairs or in groups.