Skin
My art is a reaction to the physical, emotional and historical presence of abandoned houses. Each space contains patterns existing in both the architecture and decorations, and created by footprints and erosion. Peeling away one layer often reveals a new design or texture beneath. My experiences with these spaces paint pictures in my mind of possible past time and inhabitants, and often conjure personal memories. Each space contains a history revealed in its aging architecture, artifacts, and stained surfaces. I am interested in the many forms a house takes on; a box, a shelter, a home, a memory, an aging shell.
For this project I have chosen to take a mold of the outer surfaces of one of the houses, soon to be torn down and removed from our physical space forever. Each molded section will be reversed and sewn back together to form, what appears to be, a skin of the house. The new form will be draped over an armature resembling, yet smaller than, the original structure. The rubber mold material remains soft and flexible when removed from the house and creates a perfect memory of each door, window, shingle, stain and texture.