0:00:00.186,0:00:02.686 (light music) 0:00:07.710,0:00:11.313 - I think a lot about[br]the term body anxiety. 0:00:13.860,0:00:17.970 I think about sitting[br]in the backseat of a car 0:00:17.970,0:00:20.430 as a kid in like shorts, right? 0:00:20.430,0:00:25.053 And you get up and like your[br]leg just sticks to the vinyl. 0:00:30.570,0:00:32.490 Knowing that there's something about you 0:00:32.490,0:00:34.620 that might appear gross 0:00:34.620,0:00:38.096 to others is a pretty universal feeling. 0:00:38.096,0:00:41.429 (light music continues) 0:00:42.390,0:00:46.380 We're all like moving[br]around in these flesh cages 0:00:46.380,0:00:49.464 that are essentially vulnerable. 0:00:49.464,0:00:52.797 (light music continues) 0:01:08.670,0:01:12.840 A lot of the processes I[br]use in the studio are things 0:01:12.840,0:01:17.100 that exist, but also I kind of made up, 0:01:17.100,0:01:19.380 or I'm not using them exactly 0:01:19.380,0:01:21.093 the way that you're supposed to. 0:01:22.620,0:01:27.030 I do a lot of grinding metal[br]and welding it together 0:01:27.030,0:01:28.500 and grinding it again, 0:01:28.500,0:01:32.610 and a lot of that is[br]to avoid casting metal, 0:01:32.610,0:01:35.553 which is usually very expensive. 0:01:38.430,0:01:41.400 I'm often figuring out a new method 0:01:41.400,0:01:44.130 of what's often a very traditional process 0:01:44.130,0:01:45.750 and in that way I think of myself 0:01:45.750,0:01:48.750 as kind of a professional amateur. 0:01:48.750,0:01:51.568 (light music) 0:01:51.568,0:01:55.050 I can remember being in middle[br]school, maybe even younger, 0:01:55.050,0:01:57.210 like 10 or 11, 0:01:57.210,0:02:00.810 and finding a book that my mom[br]had that was like a history 0:02:00.810,0:02:02.193 of chair design. 0:02:07.200,0:02:08.790 I would kind of go through it 0:02:08.790,0:02:13.290 and mark all the pages with[br]pictures that I was into 0:02:13.290,0:02:15.510 and you know, my parents noticed that 0:02:15.510,0:02:17.943 and got me a couple other chair books. 0:02:20.190,0:02:24.540 I became more interested[br]in modernist design 0:02:24.540,0:02:29.283 and through that started[br]working in mostly tubular steel. 0:02:31.560,0:02:35.010 It's a industrial material that's become 0:02:35.010,0:02:38.193 so ubiquitous, it's almost invisible. 0:02:43.020,0:02:45.210 A lot of the time when I[br]start with a sculpture, 0:02:45.210,0:02:48.810 I'm thinking about something[br]organic, interacting 0:02:48.810,0:02:52.593 with something that[br]looks kind of industrial, 0:02:55.200,0:02:57.183 something soft and something hard. 0:02:58.440,0:03:03.060 I like that when something[br]looks like it's being pushed 0:03:03.060,0:03:06.240 or pulled or squeezed in a sculpture, 0:03:06.240,0:03:07.950 that really is what's happening. 0:03:07.950,0:03:10.500 The silicone is being pushed or pulled 0:03:10.500,0:03:12.513 or squeezed in those directions. 0:03:15.750,0:03:16.583 - So the hottest part 0:03:16.583,0:03:18.000 is that tip,[br]- Yeah. 0:03:18.000,0:03:18.833 - Right. 0:03:18.833,0:03:21.630 So I think if we, if[br]we come in straight up 0:03:21.630,0:03:24.900 and down, you're definitely gonna get 0:03:24.900,0:03:26.823 that hot bit's gonna really like- 0:03:27.756,0:03:28.870 - Okay.[br]- Droop over 0:03:29.718,0:03:31.733 - the more droop the better.[br]- Whereas... yeah. 0:03:36.270,0:03:38.343 - I've also started working in glass. 0:03:41.580,0:03:46.020 The main difference is that[br]it's kind of frozen in time. 0:03:46.020,0:03:50.013 In that moment of the[br]sag or flop or squeeze. 0:04:16.050,0:04:19.740 My attraction to the gourds[br]initially really came 0:04:19.740,0:04:22.773 from their like kind of[br]unique warty texture. 0:04:25.740,0:04:29.310 It's rare to see fruit 0:04:29.310,0:04:31.830 or vegetable just come out of the earth 0:04:31.830,0:04:34.560 and already have this kind of diseased, 0:04:34.560,0:04:36.793 almost tumor like look. 0:04:36.793,0:04:39.293 (light music) 0:04:44.880,0:04:45.930 For these pieces 0:04:45.930,0:04:49.380 I was really thinking[br]about adaptive structures 0:04:49.380,0:04:51.742 that we may or may not be aware of, 0:04:53.070,0:04:56.793 but are very ubiquitous[br]in the built environment. 0:04:58.890,0:05:02.400 I was playing off of the handrails 0:05:02.400,0:05:04.800 that exist in a staircase 0:05:04.800,0:05:07.470 or might be the kind of ADA handrails 0:05:07.470,0:05:09.513 that are in a bathroom. 0:05:12.360,0:05:13.860 Most of my work comes from 0:05:13.860,0:05:16.713 two or three different[br]reference points for me. 0:05:18.510,0:05:21.240 I was looking at Hector Guimard's 0:05:21.240,0:05:23.673 Paris train station streetlights. 0:05:24.943,0:05:28.290 (light music continues) 0:05:28.290,0:05:32.940 And I was also looking at the hoyer lifts 0:05:32.940,0:05:35.550 that you would use to lift someone 0:05:35.550,0:05:39.093 who might be bedbound[br]from a bed to a chair. 0:05:42.840,0:05:47.580 I think with these objects[br]there's this kind of knowledge 0:05:47.580,0:05:50.010 that if they're not something that 0:05:50.010,0:05:53.640 you require in your life now to be mobile, 0:05:53.640,0:05:55.260 you will at some point. 0:05:55.260,0:05:59.790 So we all have this[br]relationship to them that is one 0:05:59.790,0:06:04.304 of kind of inevitability[br]to a certain degree. 0:06:04.304,0:06:07.637 (light music continues) 0:06:09.450,0:06:14.450 My dad had ALS, which is a disease where 0:06:14.580,0:06:18.213 you slowly become completely paralyzed, 0:06:23.970,0:06:27.690 and so watching that progression happen, 0:06:27.690,0:06:32.370 these adaptive elements went[br]from barely noticed parts 0:06:32.370,0:06:34.860 of the built environment to, you know, 0:06:34.860,0:06:37.593 really necessary elements to move around. 0:06:44.280,0:06:48.270 To me, there's this very visceral moment 0:06:48.270,0:06:51.480 that can lead itself to[br]this kind of sculptural 0:06:51.480,0:06:55.500 way of thinking around the[br]way that a body interacts 0:06:55.500,0:06:57.843 with the furniture and its environment. 0:07:03.810,0:07:05.400 These stilt sculptures, 0:07:05.400,0:07:08.580 they suggest a wearer[br]who's essentially balanced 0:07:08.580,0:07:12.780 on these very precarious[br]looking bird legs. 0:07:12.780,0:07:15.960 Navigating these equally dramatic 0:07:15.960,0:07:18.781 and difficult to use handrails. 0:07:18.781,0:07:22.320 (light music continues) 0:07:22.320,0:07:25.740 A lot of the pieces that[br]I make, they are objects 0:07:25.740,0:07:28.080 that we are all familiar with, 0:07:28.080,0:07:31.710 but maybe out of context[br]you take something 0:07:31.710,0:07:33.900 that is really familiar 0:07:33.900,0:07:38.900 and make it kind of visible again. 0:07:38.938,0:07:42.271 (light music continues)