LIFE-BASED CONCEPTUAL ART

An aspect of living catches my interest and I begin to work, approaching life as a problem solver whose job it is to pay attention and to render ideas visible. First, I develop a foundation as a conceptual framework, then create a system to work with specific details of daily life. I then go about collecting data, the visual accumulation of which makes the idea visible through art.

I translate ideas into form and then study what I see. Often study generates new research. I am more interested in questions than answers. I tend to work much in the way a farmer does when planting, tending and harvesting crops. I consider the germination process, the daily work and the harvest as my work. As I progress, I represent all of us and our deep engagement in the process of living.

My bodies of work are like confluent rivers running over long periods of time.

on time: TIME STUDIES 1972 - ongoing
on space and movement: PORTRAITS FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY 1982 - 1998, 2007
on work and movement: LIVE TRANSMISSION 1981 - ongoing
modus operandi: PERFORMATIVE DRAWING (formerly performances)
based on LIVE TRANSMISSION drawings: FORM AND CONTENT 2001 - 2006, 2019 - ongoing
scaled-up: SITE-SPECIFIC WALL DRAWINGS 1989 - ongoing
on text and meaning: LETTERPRESS WORK 1983 - ongoing
HONORING JOHN CAGE: 1982, 2012
Social Practice on human rights: HANDWRITING THE CONSTITUTION 2017 - ongoing
Social Practice on peace: TELL US A STORY 2006
on the COVID pandemic: mid-March 2020 - end November 2020
multiples: PRINTS

This website introduces the principal themes of a half-century of work.