These are the frequently asked questions you’re gonna ask anyway so let’s get it over with, how I work, what this site-responsive crap actually means when it’s not grant-proposal poetry, where to catch a show if you care enough to look up from your phone, and why I shoot photos like some wire-service burnout instead of every other art-school casualty with a ring light and daddy issues. Zero bullshit. You want theory, go read October Magazine and hate yourself.
What’s your artistic approach?
I give a shit about the material. I give a shit about the people who show up. That’s it. That’s the secret. You make work that doesn’t insult anyone’s intelligence, you don’t price people out of the room like some Lincoln Center circlejerk, and you do it the same way every goddamn time because consistency isn’t boring, it’s called not being an asshole.
I also happen to think this matters. Not in some grant-application, save-the-world way, but actually matters. To people. To the planet we’re currently strip-mining for Instagram content.
The playbook goes something like this:
* Don’t lie to people. Trust them. They’ll know if you’re faking it.
* Do it better than you did it last time. Every time.
* No cutting corners. You know when you’re cutting corners. So does everyone else.
* Nobody makes anything alone. Stop pretending you’re the auteur genius.
* If it’s not broken, sure, break it. Try something. Fail interestingly.
How do I find out about shows?
There’s a thing at the top of the page. Or follow me on whatever social media hellscape you prefer. I’ll be there, hating myself for being there.
What does “Site Specific” mean?
The Guggenheim, which I’m sure you visit constantly, says it’s when an artist does something in a place, with a place, not just plops their usual shtick into a different zip code. The work and the location actually talk to each other. It’s about the room, the dirt, the history, the weird echo in the corner. Indoor, outdoor, whatever. The place matters.
That’ll do.
Why “Site Responsive”?
Because “site specific” started sounding like marketing copy the second MFA programs got hold of it.
Here’s what I mean: the place tells me what to make. Its ghosts, its architecture, what happened there before I showed up, that’s the material. We build everything from what’s already there. Each show is built for that room, that moment, those walls. You can’t just pack it up and do it somewhere else like a touring Broadway knock-off.
For SophoclesSinon, we built the Trojan Horse out of whatever we found on site. That’s not a gimmick. That’s the point.
How are you documenting this?
No Photoshop. No filters. No “elevated” the contrast to make it “pop.” I follow the press photographers’ code because they figured this out already: don’t lie.
The rules are simple and most people ignore them:
The moment happened. My job is to not fuck it up