Vault 006 – The Power of 2013
2013 marked a dynamic and explosive year of continued visual experimentation for me. It was a time of overlapping realities, where applied / analog and digital materials merged freely, and the studio space itself became both a lab and a stage. These 13 works were never originally intended to be a series, yet when revisited now through the lens of the present, they reveal a great energetic coherence. Unified by gesture, construction, composition, and the restless desire to remix, vault 006 showcases early manifestations of what would become foundational themes in my current work: information / communication decay, glitch aesthetics, and the ongoing hybridization of sculpture, painting, installation, and projection.
1. Paper Pulp Keyboard, 2013 – A cast keyboard made from shredded junk mail and recycled paper pulp, hardened into a ghostly degenerated fossil. This work critiques the rapid obsolescence of hardware, software and digital tools while simultaneously preserving them as archaeological memory. The fragility and decay of its form reinforce the transient nature of technology in contrast to the permanence of physical material. This is an actual documentation photo, a quick snapshot where the low resolution quality of the image itself compliments the artwork.
2. Pedestal Projections, 2013 – This photographic work captures a static glitch-based animation projected onto stacked pedestals. The pedestals were unused at the time and called out to me as a very immediate impulse. I stacked them into a composition. The projections distort familiar pop imagery (a portrait of the 817 woman who has been with my work for as long as I can remember.) into new digital relics, simultaneously referencing both movement and nostalgia. The pedestal composition becomes a portal, not for elevating static sculpture but for broadcasting a new potentialities of seeing and experiencing the both mediums together.
3. Wood Arrangement 817, 2013 – A wall-mounted relief sculpture composed of various found wood scraps. The compositional structure and process emerges intuitively, balancing form, texture, and the void. This piece marks the early evolution of my abstract wood sculptures and hints at sacred architecture. There are many other variations of this body of work that date back further with various materials, an extended dive into the archives for this is underway.
4. Studio Floor Abstraction, 2013 – A vibrant documentation of a working moment in the studio. A raw grainy image snapped with my iPhone camera. Unstretched paintings, in-process works, and repurposed materials populate the floor and walls. This image captures the simultaneity of ideas and the freedom of working across multiple dimensions in a single space. I continue to work this way today and makes complete sense to me.
5. Activation Terminal Remains, 2013 – A cast sculpture of a computer motherboard in plaster, aged and intentionally pigmented. Hung in an institutional bathroom as a subtle intervention, the work suggests forgotten histories and institutional critique. It treats the motherboard not as a tool, but as a buried relic. This series of public interventions were free and open for viewers to take if they dared, each piece was placed and expected to be temporary..
6. Activation Terminal Remains (Installed), 2013 – This image documents the same plaster motherboard sculpture installed in a public restroom. Its placement disorients the viewer’s expectations of where art belongs. It forces a confrontation with the detritus of progress in a space meant for privacy and waste.
7. Microchip Units Grid, 2013 – Small cast chips (plaster, paper pulp, epoxy and concrete) arranged in a 9×16 inch grid of varying tones and finishes. They reference data, memory, and the standardization of form. By repeating the same structure in subtle material variations, the piece plays with perception and the illusion of difference. The original piece was made via an impression with clay. The clay was dried, kiln fired and used as a template for rubber mold making. Each piece can easily be placed into one’s pocket and carried as a metaphor – the memory of memories..
8. Frozen Idea, 2013 – A digital photograph of outdated plastic keyboard keys encased in a block of ice, mid-melt. This visceral image is both literal and poetic, capturing a moment in technological decay. The keys suggest communication, command, and control now surrendered to digital Internet purgatory. I have more to say on this concepot as a whole, more to come on this.
9. Blocks (Pedestal Series 2), 2013 – Projected animations once again interact with sculptural pedestal forms, here featuring the 817 portrait splintered across surfaces. The cube-like shapes function as time-based artifacts, fusing image with form. Light and surface become equally important compositional tools.
10. Studio Chorus, 2013 – A full wall of works in the studio, paintings, collages, objects surrounds a grounded sculpture composed of antique furniture and cast sculpted form. The scene portrays a visual symphony of characters and textures. It is a testimony to the layered and immersive nature of my creative environment and working process.
11. Exit Crowd (Banner), 2013 – A monumental “banner” style painting of the repeated 817 portrait in graphic black and white. Painted and installed in the studio all in one working session of 8 hours, it commands the space while referencing conformity, identity, and movement. The 817 portrait also becomes a recurring motif throughout this vault, suggesting a mirror that was always becoming.
12. Crowned Data Entity, 2013 – A bold collage and illustration hybrid, featuring a crowned humanoid figure, a king, atop a backdrop of retro jet silhouettes. This work merges mass production, royalty, and cartoon absurdity. It critiques the perform-ativity of travel, motion, color and power within a pop capitalist context.
13. Giphy.com – Commissioned Logo Riff, 2013 – In 2013 Giphy.com officially launched. I was lucky to be a part of the first launch of artists that were onboarded. As a part of this first year launch they commissioned artist to created GIF riff of their logo. This was one of my submitted pieces. 2013 was a fun year! More Giphy.com GIFs by Ryan here
Vault 006 – The Signal Behind the Static..
Vault 006 is more than a time capsule, it’s a living charge of energy from the year 2013. This vault represents a tiny portion of the works that were created in the year 2013. Each work in this archive reveals a restless, intuitive momentum: the layering of ideas, materials, and media that defined my rhythm that year. These pieces weren’t made for a trend or a gallery, they were transmissions of process, impulse, and sensory code.
Looking at them now, they foreshadow everything that followed: my hybrid approach to art-making, painting, assemblage, sculpture, animation, and digital storytelling. The experiments of 2013 are not behind me, they are embedded in everything I do now. They loop back in, reshaped, remixed, and reframed as part of the greater arc.
Want to see more? Check out the Projects page here
