The Opto-Isolator, 2011
This sculpture was intended for the top of this mountain range in the Sheephole Valley Wilderness, CA. It was too heavy for my partner and me to get it to the top, so we settled for a location halfway up. (The top of this mountain is the site of "Akedah Altar", 2021.)
Intended as a temporary sculpture in this hard-to-access remote region of the Mojave Desert, the Opto-Isolator was created as a framing device: a sculpture meant to be looked through more than at. I hoped it would stay on the spot for a few months, but two weeks after I installed it, Southern California was hit by a rare, powerful windstorm. I hiked back to this location, and found the sculpture had blown down the mountain, unfolding as it went. I collected the wood members and took them home. Later I made frames out of the remnants, framing editioned c-prints of the sculpture in situ.
The sculpture was recreated as a replica of the original piece, and can be seen in "Opto-Isolator" of the 'Sculpture' section.