​Portal Series

The Portal Series is an extension of ideas I explored first in the Deconstructed series -- again looking at urban elements, while sometimes integrating them within the presence of natural settings.  Inspired by the Utah Monolith placed anonymously in 2016, and undiscovered for nearly four years, its disclosure and removal in 2020 prompted the erection of more than 200 copycat installations worldwide.  In the years since, the mystery of its installation remains a mystery, whereupon I likewise produced photoshopped monoliths superimposed upon my own photographic work -- posted on my own Facebook page, and insinuating I had found these structures myself while shooting out in the field.

My fascination (clearly shared by others) harkens back to the monolith in Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey," and in similar portrayals of interdimensional "portals" found in Stargate, or Star Trek's Guardian of Forever.  These enigmas explore ideas about other dimensions, space travel, future and past, spontaneous relocation, and our intellectual interplays between reality and fantasy.  The wall, the door, the pillar, the thing that does not belong -- yet does.  For me it perhaps symbolizes life's journey, whether physically traveling into the unknown, or intellectually exploring new frontiers -- the draw is titillating, a catalyst to self discovery, and a connection to the vastness of the universe.  These portals may also suggest a "death" in our one life, while passing via a gateway into a new existence beyond chaos of today - a journey to Shangra-La.