I grew up with wood working men. But watching my father and grandfather build essential objects like kitchen tables, dining chairs, and bed frames conditioned me to think that the possibilities for objects made with wood were limited. With “Intellectual” I wanted wood to do something different.
In a sculpture class a few years ago the prompt was to portray how you think in isolation, without distractions or interruptions. I started thinking about reasoning and understanding as an intervention, or a disruption, and I imagined a free-flowing river of creativity going through my mind.
The artist El Anatsui works with material interactions to build forms that do things their materials do not intend them to do. I am interested in these illusions. Thrown-away wrappers and pieces of tin evoke blanket folds, piled fabric, and a dragged rug. In these works, the visual impact comes from complex relationships between many assembled components.
I hope “Intellectual” delivers an illusion of movement. I want the relationships between these repetitive, spliced and broken wood strips to guide viewers toward the freedom of infinite possibilities for thinking. For me, “Intellectual” becomes a process of revelation, introducing new ways of contemplating form and symbolism.
