Ship System Series Statement

When people look at a ship, they do not look to the heart of the ship, the engine room. They look to the exterior, the prow and the deck, the smoke stack and the bow. They look to the easily accessible, the veneer which they deem beautiful. However, it is important that the heart not be overlooked. Though the engine room of any ship is not the conventional beauty to which many are accustomed, it is the ship’s core, the heart from which throbs the life of the vessel. The ship is not able to run, to exist in its function without the components in the engine room: the boiler, the high pressure (HP) turbines, the lower pressure (LP) turbines... It is this machinery that allows the ship to live.

 As Minor White sought after the inner depth, the metaphysical of the world around him, I found it crucial that the substance of the engine room be explored. The hidden, undiscovered, and unappreciated aesthetic, the magic of this machinery transcends its exterior and captures its essence. Within the grime, the oil, and the dirt, the beauty is found.

The photographs are of manmade objects; however, each object possesses an abstract quality that lends itself easily to the various techniques of layering and manipulation utilized. Not all of the images are manipulated or composites of several photographs. Many of the photographs included are straight shots of the machinery which have been cropped and enhanced to reveal their essence. Just as the Cubists dissembled objects, analyzed and reassembled the objects, I strive to dissect the machinery into fragments and study their purpose and reassemble them as that purpose dictates.

The dimensionalities of the objects are thoroughly developed on a flattened plane. The aesthetic is derived from the Abstract Expressionists, but the real world remains its point of departure, much in the same vein as the works of Sheeler, Strand, Siskind and Callahan. It is a celebration of the majesty of the machines.

Though I continue to explore the two-dimensional, I have taken a further step with my photography that moves into the three-dimensional. The final inclusion in the portfolio is a photograph of a completed digital sculpture, composed of photographs mounted or printed onto rigid surfaces and affixed, using acrylic rods, to a plexiglass backboard. Derived from the concept of working with layers in digital photography, I felt that the natural progression was to convert those layers from the flat surface of the computer screen or paper into actual layers of materials in a sculptural environment. This photographic process of C-prints mounted on sintra (a PVC acid-free board) and Duraclears (photos printed on plexiglass) takes straight shots of the machinery and layers them in space allowing the viewer to meld the pieces together. The permutations of the new technologies in digital printing are stimulating me to further explorations in three-dimensional photographic objects (i.e. plexiglass and aluminum printing on various thicknesses to allow for curved surfaces). One is able to walk around and explore the inner workings of the construction much in the same way as I was able to walk though and explore the construction and inner workings of the machinery in the engine room.