I make stuff out of junk. Found object art.

In 2004 I was looking for agates in the Conata Basin near the Badlands of South Dakota, where the town of Conata once stood. All that remains of that town are the bleached stones of building foudations and broken pieces of metal, glass, pottery and wood. There in the dirt next to an interesting stone lay the rusting frame of an old door lock. I looked at that door lock and it just looked like the head of a robot. I began searching for pieces to make him whole. I collected a lot of discarded bits of metal that day. Eventually those items turned into, "Robot carrying the head of Marvin the Martian." and many other works..

Here I was in my 50's, an apartment full of junk and a desire to do something with it. Never having any form of art instruction I just solved problems as they came along. I treat all the found objects like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. After trying various combinations, something will emerge that is aesthetically pleasing to me. What I make is determined by the stuff that I find. I just don't understand why all that junk looks like robots, spaceships and submarines.

The main intent of my work is simply the pleasure of making it. I love every aspect of it; finding the junk ,putting it together, choosing whether to paint them and if so what colors, what backgrounds do I use and how to I manage to secure the materials to the frames. I find myself often using bright colors because they make me feel good. Mirth is a common theme in my art.