Skimming the Riff
Clear Acrylic and Evaporated Salt
Height 9 ft. Width 15 ft. Length 15 ft. (Dimensions Variable)

Skimming the Riff was created for the group exhibition Crystal Beings at the Ester Klein Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. This exhibition brought together artists whose work embodies the theoretical notions, aesthetics and process of crystallization through the lens of the fine art context. 

This installation sculpture focused on three different processes of crystallization; freezing, evaporation and synthetic. The form of the piece is constructed out of cut and sculpted clear acrylic plexiglass and modeled after the distinct patterns that occur when water freezes. The surface of the work is coated in a concentrated salt solution that over time evaporated and formed its own organic patterns throughout the installation. Lastly I considered the synthetic or “human-made” quality of the work, although Skimming the Riff spoke to and employed both theoretical and physical elements of crystallization, it was in the end an approximation of the real thing, never quite achieving what happens naturally over time in the world around us. Like much of my artwork, this installation was constructed in many components in my studio and then assembled on site at the gallery. This process allowed the work the react to the space in it inhabited and convey a sense of ephemerality.