As an artist, I am attracted to various art forms that help present our inner thoughts and feelings into something new and sometimes remembered. You can sense this when looking at a cave painting as well as a Jackson Pollock painting. Something is compelling about the original intention that becomes encoded into each work of art. Encoding is simply the process of converting information from one form into another.

These PhotoIllustrations are unique in that it takes a manufactured substance (tires). Instead of the human intention behind the encoding, air pressure and friction are guiding the explosion and fragmentation. Each substance achieves its encoding, and the viewer then becomes the interpreter.

In some ways, the idea of encoded fragments can also include the luscious brush strokes of Zen calligraphy. It’s a remarkable capturing of energy that translates into a heavily loaded paintbrush as it hits the paper’s smooth surface. The result is the combination of a breath taken before the brush hits the paper, the movement across the paper, and the release of breath as the brush is suddenly pulled up. Even if you have never painted before, a part of being human allows us to understand the brushstroke and enjoy the excitement of the energy it represents.

A single expressive stroke can hold an intention and emotionally bring us to where we weren’t expecting to go. When this stroke happens with a material we weren’t expecting to see in this way, we experience a place of inquiry. This place of inquiry is the place where shift happens.