Where do you get your inspiration?

I have no good answer to that but I have been fascinated with science and technology and large scale installations since I was a kid. I love machines and devices, and also Nam Jum Paik’s big installations from the 1980s. I like modular pieces because they can be restructured and reconfigured in various sites.

 

I find beauty and inspiration on the inside and outside of machines and devices. Decades after the electronic engineers have designed a tool, after it was built by skilled craftsmen and used by technicians or scientists to push the boundaries of humankind’s capabilities, the artifact remains. There is unintended beauty in the circuitry, components and facia of these relics.

 

 

This stuff is amazing! Are you crazy or what?

Maybe a little but I’m not dangerous. I can obsess over minutia  and trivia. I love 20th century history, including Cold War history. 

 

I like to take things apart and put them back together in different ways. I’ve been collecting discarded computer circuit boards for a quarter of a century. They come from old cash registers, stereos, copy machines, TVs, arcade games, copiers and yes, computers. 

 

How long did it take you to put Technician 3 together?

It took an entire month to install Technician 3 at the UICA, to the point where the staff started to consider me an artist-in-residence. But I have been working on Technician 3 in various forms for many years. Thousands of hours have gone into Technician 3‘s design and construction, and into the acquisition of old Cold War technology and the deconstruction of such technology. 

 

 

You call this art? This looks like a bunch of junk to me.

It is junk. That’s the point! But it’s high tech junk that you and I and generations of  Americans had paid dearly for. Art can be made from anything. What elevates the mundane into art is the human spirit.

 

 

UICA’s show is called SENSE. So what sense are you representing?

Technician 3 involves a lot of the senses, including intuition and common sense—something that seems to be sorely lacking these days. But my installation also engages several of the conventional senses like touch, sight and sound. 

 

Listen to the original soundtrack as you explore Technician 3. Feel free to touch the wall of machines. Run your hands over the cool steel and aluminum. Play with the textured knobs and slick metal switches. Tune into a micro-lecture on the vintage headphones where you can learn about the Space Race. See the lights and video displays and hidden views found in various peepholes. Stand on the top of the stairs and check out the view: a glowing wall of circuit boards beckons.

 

I would not advise tasting any of this stuff, however. And if you’re getting any sort of strong scent from Technician 3, there’s definitely something wrong with the machine!

 

 

I wish my museum back home had something like this instead of boring oil paintings of flowers and portraits of old men.

I’d love to bring Technician 3 to your village, town or city! Contact your museum’s curator and show him or her this website.

 

 

What are those big green pictures of in the vitrines?

Those are macro images of circuit boards taken with a digital camera. The one on the far left is probably from the 1950s. The one on the far right is relatively new, from the 1990s. The inside of machines and electronic devices can be just as beautiful as the outside. 

 

 

Who is the character in the space helmet?

That’s Rocket Boy. He’s a 1960s toy that I find rather iconic. He’s been in other versions of Technician. He’s good on-camera talent. Very professional, always shows up on time, doesn’t complain, never needs makeup. 

 

The actual Rocket Boy toy is hidden somewhere in the wall of machines. I won’t say where exactly. You’ll have to find him.

 

I love this stuff! Wish I could have it in my home.

Glad you like it! You can take a bit of Technician 3 with you by purchasing my jewelry or wall art in the UICA gift shop. If you’re interested in a larger piece for your home or corporate office, contact me and we can discuss.

 

Hey, wait a minute, this reminds me of the TV show “Lost.”

I have watched a little bit of “Lost” but that’s not my influence. In fact, I was doing this 10 years before “Lost” was on the air. However, my work is influenced by science fiction. And as we’ve learned from the Edward Snowden leaks, our government is also influenced by science fiction. So there’s cross-pollination going on there.

 

How long have you been doing this?

I’ve been making art ever since I was a kid. My mother was an elementary school art teacher. She would sneak home some of the best art supplies. 

 

Where did you find this stuff?

I have been collecting the artifacts in Technician 3 for decades. I don’t want to give away my sources because this stuff is getting rarer. People in the know are aware that I’m a collector. Sometimes things make their way to me. I’m always on the lookout for old technology. I have been known to break down and buy items on eBay occasionally. 

 

 

I really like the Technician 3 music. Who is this band?

Chicago-based sound editor Mason Thorne worked with my found audio and a musical score that I commissioned from South Bend, Indiana-based musician, composer and hip-hop artist Eli Kahn. 

 

 

Where did you find those green people that move around on the machine? Are they from an old movie?

The “green people” are the technicians. They represent the the nerds, geeks and brainiacs of the Cold War. I wanted to create my own vision of these ghostly beings, so I used actors and shot them individually in a derelict mansion in downtown South Bend, Indiana. 

 

What is the female technician doing? Is she checking her cell phone?

The female technician, played by Nalani Stolz (who is an artist in her own right), is actually using a slide ruler. This is how people did complicated calculations before electronic calculators became ubiquitous. The female technician represents the unsung women mathematicians like Katherine Johnson who worked at NASA  in the 1960s and helped launch us into space. 

 

Where did you study art?

I studied art at Alfred University in upstate New York and architecture at Syracuse University. Formal education has informed my art, but in school nobody teaches you how to collect old circuit boards and string them together using metal wire and a soldering iron. I learn by doing. And each new project is a learning experience.  

 

I’m an art student, are you taking interns?

Contact me through my contact page here and tell me a little about yourself.