My latest installation idea, Ellipsis: Lonely Boy, morphed into an art action. I had a wonderful idea of graphite covered balls spinning around and a pedestal spinning the oposite direction. However, without the right equipment it quickly became apparent that shoddy engineering meant ridiculous human intervention would be required. It became more of a game than an serene commentary, and as I increasingly ignored my intentions it became much more fun.
As the piece progressed (you can see in the video) I began removing all the troublesome components that hindered play and soon became the primary “machine” no longer following any pre-determined purpose.
The piece owes much to some great artists: Nic Nicosia and Karina Smigla who have done much more elegant versions of this idea. The title, Ellipsis: Lonely Boy, comes from the “…” of implied intent or unfinished thoughts, while echoing the idea of an ellipse (the path a planet or body travels around a body with more gravity.) The Lonely Boy part is due to the grandly stupid pleasure I took in constructing these goofy machines and playing with the components, two of which are, of course, ‘balls’.
Ryder in Roswell 