I am often asked: Why the bed?

It began with an accident my studio from which I was relegated to bed – and thus began an incredible study of our relationship with the bed in all its visual, literary and narrative forms. More than a third of our life is spent in bed, yet rarely has it been examined through a multi-faceted work of art. Exploring this in 3 dimensions has given full scope to my sense of humor, pathos, whimsy, sarcasm, tragedy and passion.  It has been an ambitious undertaking to create The 101 BED COLLECTION of inter-related sculptures related to words with “bed” in them.  Meeting the challenge has been mind – expanding and multi-sensorial in every sense.

For the 101 Bed Collection I have sculpted more than 100 beds, created life size beds, and installation pieces. Upon seeing my work, the celebrated author Kurt Vonnegut said “I have seen your beds and they blew my mind!”.

As the 101 Bed Collection made the rounds of international museums, galleries and public spaces, my appreciation of the importance of the subject became firmly anchored in my creative process. I knew I had touched a sensitive spot on the individual and collective level. Yet I was the sole recipient of this wealth of responses to the work. I began seeking a way for each person to take part in a relevant manner in sharing the visual imagery, the extraordinary variety and the sublime intimacy of each person’s hallowed sleeping space.  With the Unmade Bed Project (www.unmadebedproject.com) a visual collection of beds…minutes after bodily warmth, dreams, and sleep are forsaken to pursue our erect world in a broader social context – is suddenly visible to others!  What an amazing world, of which we usually get to see an infinitesimal sampling in our lifetimes.

After viewing hundreds of contributions, the audio world seemed important to the bed owners. So in 2011, I began to collect audio contributions of dreams in collaboration with international sound artist and musician Chris Urriola (soundcloud.com/dubfriendly )

I have invited my audience into a very special theater of personal experience by creating the UNMADE BED PROJECT, a collection of personal images of UNMADE BEDS from around the world (www.unmadebedproject.com). No such study has ever been undertaken. As Shakespeare aptly said: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”  The curtain is rising …