The Control Box series is primarily an exploration of my (maybe our) relationship with control. These pieces reference systems of control which originated in the 20th century when mechanical processes were not yet superseded by digital systems; this at a minimum allows for interesting physical objects. In each case there is also a unified material connection with a hand operating the controls. I have included Swim Call and Gig Box in this collection based on a formal relationship only, and they are not conceptually related; these two pieces were retirement gift commissions conceived along the same formal trajectory as the other box structures.
So the question this series raises (I think) is what, if anything, is actually controlled? Is there a possible experience of these sculptures that refers to and illuminates our ideas of control and choice. It’s seems obvious that we don’t control the weather, the tide, gravity, and an indeterminate number of other things. It’s not clear that we control anything at all, including bodies and minds. This can be a disturbing thing to encounter, and it seems as if avoiding it is the norm; for the majority of my life I was sleep walking and at times I still am. Almost everything we pursue is done based on the idea that controlling (or at least influencing) an outcome is possible. And society is based on the agency of free will such that one can be held responsible for an action or a so-called choice. So tampering in this arena philosophically has consequences…and as it turns out human suffering is at stake. We suffer primarily because we are incorrectly self identifying as something that we are not, namely, a doer. Watching the mind for any choice of thought can dispel this belief. These sculptures point to or rather stand for an important relinquishing of the grasping of the belief in control. It’s already the fact of what’s happening and is thereby not to be feared.
