Life cycle

Abstract

In my own work, I am attempting to portray a universal experience, allow for open interpretations, and yet still infuse my own personal viewpoint without basing my images on specific personal experiences. My thesis installation “Life Cycle” portrays the complex relationship between the cycles of nature and the material realities of an industrialized society. Although this is presented primarily as an antagonistic or parasitic relationship, there are also suggestions of a strange symbiosis, often explored through symbols from a variety of ancient belief systems. The sculptural installation has the structure of a natural and spiritual cycle that has a directional flow. The visual metaphors have multiple meanings and are used to refer to the three most significant stages of metaphysical being: birth, sexual union and death. The construction of the installation takes on the form of a mechanical simulacrum of the cycle between these three stages. By mechanically simulating life and its potential spiritual progress, I am questioning the validity and feasibility of spirituality by suggesting that spiritual progress may be likened to industrial progress, which is shown as a deterioration rather than a progression toward renewal and liberation. The individual forms in the installation are based on archetypal symbols, some derived from various mythological sources (lotus, serpent), and others based on direct contemporary experience (tubing, metallic surfaces, cartoon-like figures).