GRAHAM LANE

As a child I was always taking things apart that had warning labels like, “Do Not Open!” and “Risk of Electric Shock!” I saw those warnings as invitations that said, “Open me now, so you can see how I work!” I had to find out what was inside and I still find myself taking things apart (sometimes things I shouldn’t). My need to understand machines and gadgets developed into making kinetic sculpture.

As an artist I am still interested in how things work, but now I am more interested in how people work, how the mind works. I use traditional figurative elements and industrial machines to examine the relationships between man and technology, as well as man’s desire to have more and more control over his environment. In our attempts to control our surroundings we often lose sight of our own, imperfect, human nature and we habitually see ourselves and our actions in desensitized, scientific terms. I enjoy showing people the embarrassing, awkward parts of humanity, the parts that we pretend to have outgrown. I want to make people see the things that they try to hide from themselves and I want them to be amused by it.