“Island Wilderness” was a curatorial, design, and fabrication effort emerging from a short residency on Harbor Island, where I curated and designed the exhibition. With the generous support of Yale Wolf and his studio, I organized this exhibit, inviting several artists to collaborate with me in shaping a neon-infused wilderness theme park. Each installation was the product of both my fabrication and engineering efforts and the artistic vision of my collaborators, blending their personal interpretations of wilderness into a cohesive experience.
To the left is one of the installations from the show, which doubled as its advertisement. It was designed and painted by Wun Ting Chan with the structure engineered and built by me.
Each artist brought their own distinct contributions, which I helped materialize: Ayda Rojhantalab’s taxidermy sculptures were displayed on custom polygonal plinths I fabricated, recessed with neon-lit cavities; Jenny Riffle transformed an entire wall into an immersive, life-sized photographic forest through wheat-pasting; Baso Fibonacci, Yale Wolf, and I co-created an aluminum and acrylic neon raccoon sculpture; and Yale curated his extensive collection of neon fragments, which I integrated throughout the exhibition’s design. Additionally, Chan and I constructed intricate low-poly paper antlers—laser-cut, spray-painted, and reinforced with aluminum—for Butylene O’Kipple’s performance, a fusion of modern dance and drag as a faun-like entity.
Throughout the process, my role extended beyond curation—I was deeply involved in shaping, fabricating, and assembling each installation, ensuring that every artist's vision came to life within the larger framework of the exhibition.
