ARTIST STATEMENT

As an architect and designer, I consider the formal elements that involve the production of a design piece my major subject matter. Lines, surfaces, solids and color are some of many reasons why objects produce a statement and what makes people appreciate a work of work and its visual aesthetic qualities. I started appreciating those elements in my early childhood with the building blocks I had as toys. Those pieces developed in me a kin eye for three-dimensional design. It is of my interest the power they have to transform and manipulate space when interacting with their surroundings.

The interest in building three-dimensional objects added to an interest in planning and structure led me to enroll in an architecture program. During those years, I learned that the character and visual quality should be emphasized in order to produce effective three-dimensional experiences. When creating something, I find myself interacting with shapes in order to accomplish this goal. I add to or subtract from them until I define a shape which has features that I judge capable of creating a surprised reaction from a viewer. This process starts with a geometric shape. Geometric shapes carry in them an amount of simplicity, precision and perfection that allow me build complexity upon without taking away their fundamental essence.

The general theme of my work therefore lies on basic design principles that create bold statements based on their literal presence. Fundamental concepts such as lines, modularity and color are manipulated into tactile models, sketches or as of lately, CAD models. While developing an idea, I do not constrain myself to a specific way of approaching the problem. I keep my mind and my eyes open to new experimentation all the time. I am constantly sketching, making new paper models or modeling using computer software, which enables me analyze, study and decide whether it will be worth pursuing a concept or not. Throughout this time, many variations and studies for the same solution are made in order to find the best solution to answer the problem. I manipulate its shape, study the possibility of different color schemes, and test different materials and also different manufacturing processes.

As an architect and designer, I understand the role technology plays in our constantly growing society and how it affects all realms, including the creative one. New technological developments have allowed artists and designers take their work to unexpected horizons. Ideas that before were not possible through traditional methods or sometimes not even thought of can now be brought into reality through the use of Computer-Aided Design technologies such as Computer Numeric Control (CNC), Rapid Prototyping (RP) and Virtual Reality (VR).

The interest in exploring the fundamental concepts in an unexpected fashion developed an interest in me for this topic and led me to pair the traditional concepts I was used to practice with sketches and paper models with the latest in computer-aided design (CAD) technology. The use of technology in my design process enables me embrace tradition and innovation when I combine classical features of design with computer applications and computer-controlled methods.

I started working with CAD technology in 2001 while still in architecture school using drafting, modeling and page layout applications. In 2006, while studying three-dimensional Design at the University of Iowa, I started working with CNC technology to produce the Geometra Fruit Bowl. CNC technology allows the transfer of electronic files to have 2D objects cut using laser or a plasma torch or 3D objects milled. In this learning experience, research played a major role and became part of my design method. Whenever I incorporate a new method of production into my work, other research topics are addressed as well. While experimenting for the Geometra Fruit Bowl, aside from knowing how to draft the pattern to be plasma-cut, I had to research the proper metal, proper gauge but most importantly it was necessary to develop a process to have a piece CNC-cut. It was when I had to understand a little about the mechanics of the process, how the machine works, and especially how the software that runs it translates and interprets my design and performs its task.

In 2006, I also started incorporating 3D Computer Modeling and rapid Prototyping in my design process for my Master of Arts thesis research and carried it to my Master of Fine Arts thesis research. It also became necessary to research the nature of the process and how my design can make full advantage of it. Computer Modeling allows me produce new design forms that are easily generated on the computer and Rapid Prototyping is responsible for bringing these ideas to the real and tactile world through 3D printing.

In 2007, as a result for my interest in interacting with my computer modeled objects, I decided to use this application to design interiors and experiment those spaces using Virtual Reality (VR). Virtual Reality made the interaction with my work an experience like I have not tried up to that point. I was able to walk through my designs and also incorporate sound and video into it, creating four-dimensional design works of art. My first produced experience using VR was the Bookstore Booth project. To achieve that, research and learning on VR software and hardware was necessary but also built up a library of knowledge I am now able to carry for other endeavors I might tackle in the future.

Currently I have been using all aforementioned technologies to design furniture, functional objects and interiors, which are the three themes that attract my attention. They are capable of making the interaction with the viewer a more personal experience. The possibility to have my work interact with the human being rather than just in a viewer mode is what drives me towards functional art and design. When you try on a piece of furniture or walk into a space, your tastes and preferences are part of your judgment criteria at a different level. A chair is chosen because its height is appropriate; it supports your back and arms properly, among other judgment items. The appreciation goes then from purely visual to a point where a viewer engages with the piece and considers it based on himself, developing a different communication between the work and its appraiser.

I have been researching furniture pieces using linear parts. I aim to explore the power a simple linear element has to evolve into a 3d piece through gradation and transformation in size and shape. I design them using a computer drafting software, then model them in a modeling application and visualize them using the VR software and hardware. After analyzing and fixing problems that are noticed, the files will be sent to a CNC manufacturer and be cut out of its material and its parts will be assembled into the final design. The pieces will be built out of certified wood, avoiding the degradation of our natural environment. As a designer, I believe my products can help bring awareness of what our society has been producing and by incorporating good materials with technology in the manufacturing process, I am helping promote its possibilities and also its affordability for the production of pieces due to waste reduction and its more precise quality.

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