Though there is no direct correlation in material use, what resonated when I began this process were specific ideas of Frederick Law Olmstead and Friedrich Nietzsche. Olmstead's green-space works, which include Central Park in New York City and Boston's "Emerald Necklace," provided the platform for my thought, in that, parks are manmade and yet are also referred to as 'natural.' which I found amusing. How then do we define and differentiate what we shape, manmade vs. natural? This thought then took me to Nietzsche and how he drew attention to how human life remains founded on myth and the balance of Apollonian and Dionysian order.
Drawing from these ideas, one may find an amalgamation of "The Blob," pwdre ser, lava, gold, chewy candy, architectural structures and who knows what - all mixed in their own configuration. My new sculpture works refer to a familiar alchemy in everyday materials.
"Star Jelly" a.k.a. "There's Gold in Them Hills (In the Eyes of the Beholder, that is.)"
- Midori Hirose, May 2007