Over the past ten years my work has explored the rapidly changing culture of the workplace. Currently this work is taking the form of a series of personal performances (I refer to them as "tasks") using discarded office materials. Several of the tasks involve the very laborious production of fabrics. The project is titled Adaptive ReUse.
Adaptive ReUse focuses on the repetitive labor of the workplace. It attempts to personalize a dehumanizing process of production through an elaborate and sometimes futile process of recycling. Among the tasks being performed in this project are the construction of a paper clip fabric and business suit using thousands of 5/8" paper clips, the weaving of a fabric made from discarded computer catalogues which have been cut into 1/4" strips, the crocheting of a set of curtains using 1" rubber bands, and the replacement of empty ink cartridges in ball point pens with strands of hair. Photographic and video documents demonstrate the slow and laborious process of these productions. A series of photographs also show the worker interacting with these objects; (trying on the paper clip suit, etc.) showing the fabrics’ reconstituted life "back on the job."
One of the larger themes of my work is the flexibility of the terms "waste" and "efficiency" and "value" as they are selectively applied to the workplace.
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Adaptive ReUse: Paper Clip Cur
2002
This piece is part of a larger series Adaptive ReUse. The focus of this project is a series of fabrics made of discarded office materials. The fabrics are hand-made by the artist through a very laborious process which is documented in various media.
Adaptive ReUse: Paper Clip Cur
2002
Adaptive ReUse: Computer Catal
2000-2001
This piece is part of a larger series Adaptive ReUse. The focus of this project is a series of fabrics made of discarded office materials. The fabrics are hand-made by the artist through a very laborious process which is documented in various media.
Adaptive ReUse: Computer Catal
2000-2001
Bean Counter
2002-3
A series of hand drawn bean shapes are numbered from one end of a roll of adding machine tape to the other. The number reach just short of 10,000.
In The Red
2003
Adding machine paper is saturated with red ink which the artist has covered all the paper in through layering of various red felt tip pens.
Budget Clock
2001
One of a series of drawings from office supply catalogs.
The "Comfortable" Series
2002
One of a series of drawings from office supply catalogs.
Education and biography
EDUCATION
B.A. Princeton University
M.F.A. Rutgers University
Whitney Independent Studio Program
EXHIBITIONS
My work has been exhibited at museums and galleries in the United States, including the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York; Southern Exposure and UCIrvine Gallery in California; and Miami Dade Inter-American Center in Florida.