ARTIST STATEMENT

REVELATION OF THE INTERIOR IS SOMETHING I HAVE BEEN INCREASINGLY CONCERNED WITH SINCE I BEGAN WORKING WITH METAL, partly because intriguing inner spaces are often a happy byproduct of metal fabrication, but also because curiosity has always led me to look beneath the surface of things. In my most recent work, consisting largely of sliced forms, the main focus is on the interior rather than exterior structure.

In addition to botanical illustration, the influences on the overall design of the work and on my own sense of aesthetics in general are quite varied. With a cultural background that spans three continents (I grew up mainly in the UK, and my parents are Thai, with some Russian, and American), I often draw inspiration from disparate sources, the more significant ones being the illustrations of Arthur Rackham and Aubrey Beardsley, the jewelry of Lalique, and the so-called “ethnic” jewelry of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Oceania. It seems, however, that the works I find most appealing do tend to share a common thread: not only do they express the artist’s acute observation of and appreciation for the natural forms that surround him/her, but also the tension between beauty and menace, the “look but don’t touch” phenomenon that is so often found as a means of defense in nature. The fact that I am drawn to this is hopefully something that is carried over in my work.