The “Reconstruction” series investigates the materials and metaphors of labor through public art, private sculptural and object-painting works. In 2008, I began revisiting my boyhood obsession with trucks and construction equipment. The series ranges from small-scale gallery pieces to two large public art installations. I have tried to transform the image of innocence of a child playing with toys into a larger, more complex subject.

My object-painting, “Crane” (2007) plays with dimensionality and studies the architectural process of translating planar blueprints into actual physical spaces. The existing painting on the rescued wooden plane suggests an architectural form; the toy truck romantically alludes to its realization. This nostalgic, but playful work, addresses themes of childhood, inheritance, and labor. The themes addressed in small domestic and gallery spaces radiate outwards and manifest in monumental public artworks. For example, “Service Road” (2013) stands at the entrance to the Rockville Public Services facility and pays tribute to the hard-working men and women that maintain the City’s Public Parks, Buildings, and Roads.  This body of work ultimately studies how we imagine and construct our communities.

In the past 30 years, I have had the honor of designing site-specific projects for both public and private spaces. I produce works that are only activated within the parameters of human scale. My research on the memory and materiality of materials and spaces approaches each project as an opportunity for wayfinding, placemaking, and storytelling. Wayfinding presents the opportunity for citizens to purposefully drift around the space, reflect outwards and inwards, and contextualize themselves within their natural social and physical landscape. In turn, placemaking presents the opportunity to re-imagine the purpose and utility of a space from being vacant and static, to becoming a lively hub for community interaction and development. I believe this practice should be democratic and should incorporate the materiality and themes already exhibited in its social landscape. My public art practice does not exist in a vacuum; it addresses the complex fabric into which it is sewn. Therefore, an artwork of this nature is reflective of the cultural composition of the institution it serves.
 
My expansive public art practice has historically been concerned with creating permanent, monumental spaces that are enlivened by their visitors. Each public art project strives to incorporate and enhance the social goals of its site. The large disks in “Inertia Study” simultaneously evoke a sense of momentum and progression, while also creating spaces for repose and reflection. Similarly, the shelter provided by “Pergola” creates a point of intersection and interchange; responding to the park’s request for a gathering space, the nest-like structure integrates itself into the park’s existing natural and social landscape, and creates a center for community building. Furthermore, “Homophone” at Pierce’s Park is animated by the passage of people in and around its tunnel. Sounding devices resonate as they are struck, and all the senses are stimulated within this park space. The audience is not only enveloped in, but actively participates in the creation of, a holistic bodily experience. Additionally, my most recent project and the inaugural sculpture in Chestertown’s Public Art Master Plan, “Broad Reach,” creates a dynamic playscape that fulfills the program’s desire for an interactive piece that catalyzes a relationship between the arts and the community.
 
Through my tenure in the public art sector, I have become familiar with the processes involved in following projects from conception to implementation. I use primarily materials that are highly durable and require little to no maintenance, including stone, stainless steel, and glass. I greatly enjoy the process of collaborating with other design professionals, including landscape architects, structural and civil engineers, lighting designers, and architects. I also work with professionals of nontraditional design backgrounds, such as historians, teachers, poets, biologists and doctors. Such collaborations enhance my understanding of the context and the finished project’s integration within its space.

Three years ago, amid the daily headlines of mass shootings and gun violence, I began building an arsenal of 100 mock assault rifles. This body of work is my personal awakening and response to the American obsession with weaponry and the abstraction of violence. My practice has led me deep into one of the most polarizing social, political, and public health challenges of our times: the debate over gun ownership as a means to curbing gun violence. As one delves into the issue, the quagmire quickly spirals into issues of race, gender, and class. At the core of this discussion lies a preoccupation with fear and control.

I am invested in an unconventional examination of the American obsession with such tools of violence. The pieces are placed on canvas tarps in rows and viewers are encouraged to walk between them. By allowing some viewers to “try on” the guns, the installation provokes a wide arc of reactions ranging from humorous and entertaining to tragic and confessional. The bodily, tactile, and psychic experience of this work allegorically addresses the abstraction of war and the monumentality of modern day violence. The myth of mechanized warfare has inspired an imaginary detachment from violence. However, as amalgamations of industrial and household detritus, each rifle is built from materials that create the foundations and infrastructures of our modern lives. The guns have a visceral calculus and purpose; they reference the systematic ingenuity that goes into creating weapons of our own destruction. As we attempt to untangle the contentious debate over the lethality of our possession of over 310 million guns, it is necessary to confront the brutality of our contemporary gun violence and how it has infiltrated all of our domestic spaces. I aim to tease out the realities that are obscured by such abstractions.

I reject polarized conversations. My mission is to integrate this arsenal into the mainstream public consciousness as a springboard for political and social dialogue – to provoke interdisciplinary conversation, heighten outrage, and perhaps alter the course of the tragedy of gun violence.

For more information visit our website http://www.hessgunshow.com/ or check out our Instagram @hessgunshow

In the past 30 years, I have had the honor of designing site-specific projects for both public and private spaces. I produce works that are only activated within the parameters of human scale. My research on the memory and materiality of materials and spaces approaches each project as an opportunity for wayfinding, placemaking, and storytelling. Wayfinding presents the opportunity for citizens to purposefully drift around the space, reflect outwards and inwards, and contextualize themselves within their natural social and physical landscape. In turn, placemaking presents the opportunity to re-imagine the purpose and utility of a space from being vacant and static, to becoming a lively hub for community interaction and development. I believe this practice should be democratic and should incorporate the materiality and themes already exhibited in its social landscape. My public art practice does not exist in a vacuum; it addresses the complex fabric into which it is sewn. Therefore, an artwork of this nature is reflective of the cultural composition of the institution it serves.
 
My expansive public art practice has historically been concerned with creating permanent, monumental spaces that are enlivened by their visitors. Each public art project strives to incorporate and enhance the social goals of its site. The large disks in “Inertia Study” simultaneously evoke a sense of momentum and progression, while also creating spaces for repose and reflection. Similarly, the shelter provided by “Pergola” creates a point of intersection and interchange; responding to the park’s request for a gathering space, the nest-like structure integrates itself into the park’s existing natural and social landscape, and creates a center for community building. Furthermore, “Homophone” at Pierce’s Park is animated by the passage of people in and around its tunnel. Sounding devices resonate as they are struck, and all the senses are stimulated within this park space. The audience is not only enveloped in, but actively participates in the creation of, a holistic bodily experience. Additionally, my most recent project and the inaugural sculpture in Chestertown’s Public Art Master Plan, “Broad Reach,” creates a dynamic playscape that fulfills the program’s desire for an interactive piece that catalyzes a relationship between the arts and the community.
 
Through my tenure in the public art sector, I have become familiar with the processes involved in following projects from conception to implementation. I use primarily materials that are highly durable and require little to no maintenance, including stone, stainless steel, and glass. I greatly enjoy the process of collaborating with other design professionals, including landscape architects, structural and civil engineers, lighting designers, and architects. I also work with professionals of nontraditional design backgrounds, such as historians, teachers, poets, biologists and doctors. Such collaborations enhance my understanding of the context and the finished project’s integration within its space.

Working with the Waterfront Partnership, designed large-scale public sculpture, musical instruments, railings, pavers, and signage in Pierce's Park, Baltimore, Maryland. The work creates a unified vision which allows children to explore literary, maritime, and musical themes.

Furniture

Architectural Enhancements

Various projects designed, built, and installed for the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore, Maryland.

Indoor Sculpture