I am not a particularly religious man, but I do believe in animism: the notion that non-living objects possess something like the human soul.

I believe that the non-living thing acquires soul from contact with the living so that with repeated use, a scythe takes on the spirit of the arm swinging it, the highway hungrily swallows the restlessness of those who traverse it, and a fence post longs for the wings of the crow that sits atop it.

Since my sculptures are primarily constructed from found materials, I am very aware that each item comes already invested with its own unique history--what I call its "fingerprint" because no two objects, like no two people, experience their time on the planet in the same way. This unique experience is indelibly tied in to what the finished sculpture will look and feel like.

My sculptures are largely figurative and in this, too, I aim to present my philosophy that the inanimate world is integrally connected to living beings. In the figures I assemble I attempt to merge iconic images that evoke the universal and time-transcendent nature of humanity with "low-brow" objects--such as bowling balls, plumbing parts, pistons, and false teeth which would seem to have no place in classic images of humankind. But by using common items, I invite viewers to find themselves in each piece, to search each sculpture's components for some item from their own past or present.

In doing this I aim to free art from its present unhealthy aura of "Do Not Touch" and separatist politics; the living world is not separate from the material world.

For example, when a bowling ball was given to me with the name "Dottie" engraved on it, "Dottie" became an integral part of the finished sculpture.
This is a wall. Go down the hall to the right.

For the past 17 years my studio, The House of Balls, has been in a first floor storefront and has had an open-door policy. Viewers are welcome inside and encouraged to touch the sculptures and offer remarks, advice and criticism and if I'm not present, there is a viewer-operated tape recorder outside the door. My sculptures often include interactive parts, push buttons, mirrors, and motion detectors that set them in motion and I encourage the handling of my sculptures.

The interaction itself becomes part of the artwork and viewer merges with object for a momentary exchange of soul, each gleaning something from the other.

Untouchable sculpture is to my mind a horrifying concept--as unnatural a notion as believing any one of us could walk the earth without leaving fingerprints, impressions, little pieces of soul spinning like discarded love letters caught in time's whirlwind.