"Fingers"

When I was searching for automata online, I came across this piece called "Fingers" designed by a Britain based artist Nik Ramage. The mechanism and movement are similar to my Peepshow #7, but it is a more stripped down version. I think this is a simple yet very whimsical piece. Very nice. Here is the piece in action. You can purchase this piece (they made 10 copies) through Cabaret Mechanical Theatre website.

Peepshow #7 in action

Here is a short clip of my kinetic sculpture "Peepshow #7" in action. This piece is about frustration related to the experience of "seeing". But while working on this piece, by adding fingers, eye, scissors to the whole design of the set, it ended up suggesting a sexual undertone, which I had not originally intended...

Kinetic sculpture "Peepshow" series

Here are some samples of my kinetic sculptures called Peepshows. These were originally developed from my photography pieces as far as their concept was concerned. I was thinking about the experiences of taking pictures with a camera, turning your photographic subjects into objects, and owning them as mementos. I was intrigued by our basic desires behind all those actions. The realization that it all comes from the fact that we are all desperately trying to preserve something that's constantly disappearing in front of our eyes made me view photography as a medium born out of our impossible dreams. I decided to reposition this whole idea and drama into a sculptural context, involving the elements that make the medium of photography possible: time (movement), light, monocular vision through a lens, machinery, etc..
The box (approx. 23" cube) reminds us of an over-sized pinhole camera. When you peek into the spy lens on the front panel, you will see a motorized sculpture (body part) moving endlessly repeating the same motions over and over. The perspective is distorted due to the use of the lens, making the interior space much deeper than actually is. There is a sense of witnessing some kind of naughty secret about the act of looking into a small opening with your back hunched over, and that's the reason why I decided to call them Peepshows. The mechanism used for these pieces are pretty low-tech: basically gears, cams and electric motors. These pieces show my fascination with the mid-19th to early 20th century automata. I love those mechanical toys from that era which seem to exist in the gray zone in between art, toy, science and magic.
I am currently working on capturing these pieces in action on video.

My photographic images are printed on sheets of oxidized metal (mostly steel) using the liquid photo emulsion called "Liquid Light". It is manufactured by the company : Rockland.
For the online portfolio of my photography work, Click here.
My work is represented by Sherrie Gallerie, Columbus, OH.

Here is the artist statement on this part of my work.
My photographic work deals with the transformation of the physical and conceptual properties of the medium by means of time. My images are printed on oxidized sheet metal through the application of photographic emulsion onto the surface. In this process the rust on the metal penetrates the image from underneath and surfaces to become part of the image. The time represented by a photographic image, which belongs to the past, is physically shifted and relocated by the decay of the material, which is the manifestation of on-going time. The senses of permanence and timelessness conventionally associated with photographic prints are re-examined by the impermanence implied by the material. In a literal and symbolic sense, my main subject-matters: female nudes provide the ground where these 2 points in time meet and the figures work as a catalyst to accelerate this transformation of the medium due to the transient nature of beauty with which female nudes are viewed. Sometimes by juxtaposing oxidation against the figure and sometimes by blending the oxidation with the figure, I try to create a visual and psychological tension. I would like to continue exploring a new possibility of dialogue that would bridge images, materials and time.

A new book of paper animal sculptures out!

I have recently published a book of paper animal sculptures. Each of these animals was designed to be constructed, without the use of glue or adhesive tape, out of one continuous sheet of paper (except for the large ones like elephants and alligator, they simply didn't fit in single pages and I had to design them in sections). You copy the template on a sheet of card stock paper (there are many colors and textures available at craft stores), score the folding lines, cut the templates out and turn them into 3-D sculptures. Kirigami is a combination of 2 Japanese words "kiri" (cutting) and "kami" (paper). My designs are a kind of hybrid kirigami that involves a lot of origami techniques.
The whimsical limericks on the photograph pages were written by Erik Johnson.
The book is available through Amazon, Barnes And Noble and through the website of my publisher Lark Books.

Reviews on the book I found online.
review 1
review 2