Systematic Magic
2018
Galveston Artist Residency Gallery, Galveston, Texas
(Two-person residents show with the wonderful Kristina Estell.)

Much of my work generally addresses one’s relationship to a site through time, connecting and documenting seen and un/seen occurrences. As my work has developed, it has become more and more about looking at those spaces as an InBetween site, one that is rapidly changing both socially and environmentally. While at these sites, I often experience them through an adopted performance persona that I have come to call "The InBetween" - an extension of my physical self that moves through what we experience as reality. It explores that reality in a state that is neither here nor there as it slips, shuffles and slides through the curtain of "the real" that separates what we see in a physical life from the unknown mechanics that keep our universe spinning. This extension touches upon notions of the multiverse, the possible hidden dimensions left to be discovered in physics, the invisible yet palpable nature of dark matter, or even something as simple as gravity - invisible forces that make up and guide our lives that yet exist outside the realm of visibility. I therefore explore locations - both the geographic and the liminal - to expose and research how the layers of history, mythology and psychic scars of a site can affect the phenomenological intersections of current physical, mental and emotional experiences within that place and time. I utilize photography, video, performance, installation and mark-making to explore these psychic environments of intersections, systems, networks and experience through time using myself as a queer-coded conduit.

The work shown here at the GAR Gallery is from the time I spent in Galveston, Texas from September of 2017 to August 2018. Galveston is both a transient and enduring place: though the Texan barrier island has been battered and literally washed away numerous times, its residents and its culture remain defiant of its natural watery adversary. My time spent there focused on the history of the island, the history of its people, the cycles of destruction and rebirth, preservation, deterioration and how the island itself is small microcosm of the challenges we will all face with impending climate change. One day, perhaps quite soon, the Earth will reclaim that land, while we, as a global society, will experience a huge shift in the way we will live our lives even though we have yet to map out how to navigate that change.

Above: Short exhibition essay by the fabulous curator at large, Leslie Moody Castro.  This two person show was shared with the equally wonderful Kristina Estell.

Above: To commemorate this show, GAR master creative Dan Schmahl published a small artist’s book with a bound collection of images from both mine and Kristina’s aspects of the show, along with a copy of Leslie’s essay. Edition of 50. For further information or to inquire about sales, please contact Galveston Artist Residency.