Pause and Reflect: The Art Object as Immersive Experience

My research has consisted of a series of artworks that are aimed at identifying effective methods of generating an immersive experience that gives pause for reflection. Art for me is a transformative process that increases awareness of self. Art transcends many boundaries making it a unique form of communication with an audience where words can often fall short. Building on my history of work with the medium of stone, my artistic investigations have led me to examine how process, scale, material, craft and form can be effectively employed to create an immersive experience with the art object. My artistic creations have taken the form of sculpture and painting. Relevant to my practice are the artists Mark Rothko, Isamu Noguchi and Rachel Whiteread and theorists Clement Greenberg and Martin Heidegger. My research explores the effects of an immediate experience with the art object as a technique to absorb the viewer. Precision of craft is employed as a method to elevate the significance of materials and form. Materials are understood in terms of their density, weight and psychological impact. Perspective distortions and defying the expectations of the viewer can serve to destabilize and lead them to re‐establish their ground. Different processes are explored as a way to give living qualities to a static object.