· I have maintained sculpture studios at Hunter’s Point Shipyard since coming to San Francisco twenty years ago. I previously lived and worked in Los Angeles. I make abstract pieces using a variety of materials and technical approaches. I have been working on several diverse series of pieces since 1990--all fabricated using rather slow, labor-intensive techniques. Moonbeam navigator and its series of cable pieces is fundamentally different from carvings like The frog king, but it is characteristic for me to have worked on both simultaneously.
· I have been making visual art, particularly abstract sculpture, since my time as an undergraduate.
· I grew up and went to school in southern California at UCLA (as an undergraduate) and the University of Southern California (MS and PhD degrees).
· Amongst the earliest strong influences on my conception of sculpture were Modernist pieces by George Rickey, Calder, Noguchi, Lipchitz, Sorel Etrog, Henry Moore, David Smith, Miró, and Peter Voulkos, that I visited almost every day while an undergraduate at UCLA. This was a life-giving experience and the real beginning of my education in visual art.
· I still tend to incorporate, in some work, the highly technical, engineering-oriented approach that George Rickey used in his large mobile-stabiles. Mobile-stabiles represent a significant portion of my work.
· Isamu Noguchi's work has been a constant spiritual guide for me; I admire his obstinate choice of difficult materials and processes. I was inspired by the depth of his spiritual involvement in making his objects.
· There is no history of artistic endeavor in my family. In fact, I cannot trace my interest in sculpture to any sort of awareness of visual art at home as a child. It was important, however, that mechanical skills in woodworking and auto mechanics were held in high esteem. While still a little boy, I had accumulated an impressive collection of tools--which I knew how to use. Skill with tools is still very important to me, and that importance is always born out in my sculpture.
· It was easy to apply the abilities that I developed building cabinetry (my means of financial support during school) and working on cars to sculpture.
· By the time I had reached graduate school, I began my obsession with the idea of two simultaneous careers: one in which I would make visual art; and one in which I would apply my training in biomedical science and design engineering.
· Although often frustrating, I continue doing two things at once: invent and design advanced-technology cardiovascular devices; create and show sculpture. The two pursuits have become symbiotic. I learn engineering approaches to fabrication and finishing problems in the studio. My experience with carving, sketch rendering, and 3D visualization in the studio supports the industrial design aspect of my engineering work.
· It is important to me to spend time in the fastness of the Sierra Nevada wilderness. I think the essential feature of the beauty that I enjoy in the mountains is the randomness of all the elements that fill the scene. I look at an alpine setting of grasses, stones, flowers, water, and snow, and I try to incorporate the rhythms, contrasts, and randomness of these elements in the compositions of my pieces.
[San Francisco, 2008]
