As a young artist I was first inspired to call myself “conceptual” by learning about the work of Yoko Ono. What specifically struck me about her pieces was the fact that she loved to engage the viewer on more than a visual level by inviting them in. My favorite piece of hers was the Telephone Piece, installed at various places including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A phone would sit in a gallery and ring at random and whomever was walking by the phone in the museum at the time would pick it up and say hello and Yoko would be on the other end, calling from wherever she happened to be in the world to speak with this stranger. What I loved about this, and other pieces of hers, was the way it explored the ideas of two people interconnecting who might never connect otherwise and the elements of discovery and surprise that were brought into seemingly ordinary lives by the existential chemical reaction caused by the exchange. In my own art, I am too fascinated by the idea of forcing humanity to engage with itself in spontaneous situations that are beyond the comfort zone of our ordinary lives. In this place, the potential for creativity and magic is endless and that is what steers life into the realms of wonder, reflection and the amazement of the deep and inner soul.

Read the full review at Newtopia Magazine.