Do you consider these to be abstract works? I ask because although in these particular sculptures there are no “images” per se, there is the object memory of the former contents of the styrofoam that always insist on being considered, and so there is something like narrative content. How do you balance this consideration in terms of the meaning of the work? They ARE abstract in that there is no OVERT meaning or imagery (although I am starting to combine imagery with form in the newest work). I dealt with the formal aspects of these pieces and let the line be dictated by the form. I really enjoyed this open-ended content. Of course all along I was thinking about the political nature of the material but I felt that I could be subversive for a change. Aesthetically the forms would pull you in and the viewer could add as much of that intrinsic meaning as they wanted. I didn’t have to ram it down your throat. It was so freeing to work spontaneously and have a “call and response” attitude to the work. I have very definite political ideas about the pieces, however. These forms show the best and the worst of our humanity. On one hand, we are an amazingly ingenious society with the ability to create such incredibly intricate, purposeful objects. I could not create such elegant (in some cases) pieces of sculpture. On the other hand, this ubiquitous material is a reminder of our wastefulness, our gluttony, our need for more, newer, a seemingly better “thing”. I am always astounded by the amounts of polystyrene I can collect and have in my studio. I am just one small being on this planet. Obviously you have not shied away from taking on thorny political and/ or social issues in the past—but always there was a figurative element involved in articulating those messages. How does that play out for you in these pieces?
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