Since 2012 I have been utilizing rubber (repurposed bicycle inner-tubes) as a medium. Both contrasting and complementing my work with earthen materials (ceramics), the rubber work references mobility, transit, and the in-betweenness of places. Sustainability and environmental issues also come into play using a synthetic material. The bike tubes are split open and stretched out onto wrapped panels and bound globes or they may be used whole and ruched onto panels and other forms. On occasion flat-wrapped pieces are painted (Retrace Series).
Wrapped Panels are typically wall-mounted box-like forms that incorporate negative space and resulting shadows to depict coastlines (Choke Series), roadway intersections (interchange) or other mapping imagery.
Wrapped with repurposed bicycle inner-tubes, the globes take on new meanings as emphasis shifts from being providers of geographical information to absurd bound objects. Movement and transit are implied by the rubber’s patina, obtained from the wear and tear of distances traveled. The valve stems serve as a means of demarcating locations. However, with the cartographic names and features obscured, the relative position of the demarcated points to one another provides the primary meaning. Each globe has a different theme with what is being demarcated (e.g. the richest and poorest countries in the world or the most dangerous places).
These objects were primarily shown in Torque, an exhibition that featured discarded objects that were wrapped with thousands of repurposed bicycle inner tubes. The resulting sculpture, furniture and other bound objects took on new meaning as emphasis shifter from their original function toward form and surface.