@ce.nichols_art
materials which would otherwise be natural, if not for the evidence of my
intervention. Through my touch, these objects begin to evolve in
unnatural ways, taking on improper developments and growths that
challenge our expectations of how novel materials, objects, and forms
should behave. Paper becomes skin, chairs morph into the supporting
structures of a tabletop, and wood swells into fungal forms. I study
microscopic forms and enlarge them to create tactile, interactable
biomes, to which I add familiar objects. By fusing these forms with
familiar materials, I compel the viewer to confront what is often unseen:
hidden parts of the world that exist beyond the human eye.
When encountering what goes unseen, we begin to question what we
value and deem important of our attention. If an object mimics some-
thing living—whether through its form, patterns, or resemblance to
organisms we recognize—do we value it more upon first encounter?
Is mimicking life the same as living? We are composed of billions of
smaller, living entities—cells, bacteria, microorganisms—yet, we rarely
consider them, nor do we value a red blood cell as much as we do the
whole body.
By speaking this language of life, I seek to translate an underlying, unseen
function with each of my artworks. The function? To live.