Anxiety Beats, 2018-2019

Square steel rod and Tarred nylon string

In this work, I found myself thoughtfully investigating physical forms that follow aberrations of the mind and how such aberrations manifest themselves in small moments. This led me to bending square steel rod into abstract forms that pay homage to the beginnings of modernism while producing an updated response appropriate to today. The steel is able to express anxieties in the nature they have been bent and coiled from twelve- and twenty-foot rods to handheld objects. The nylon string acts as both a method of suspension and grounding as it pools onto the surface of the floor. It also performs as an essential, straight, vertical line by which the curved lines of the steel forms are allowed to contrast and take shape.

With the additional element of sound, I aimed to provide a specific experience to all viewers of this particular work. The heartbeat is one of the most recognizable patterns of sounds we have available to us. Without a heartbeat, we do not have life. It is used as a euphemism for the most important formative element to give energy to inanimate entities. Our hearts beat differently in different stages of life as well as during different activities. My anxieties make me more acutely aware of my heartbeat, just as viewers will be while traveling through this piece.