In 1999 I had the opportunity to spend some time traveling in Asia. The way in which spirituality is infused into daily life there had a profound impact on my work. Seeing vernacular street side temples in Nepal, little spirit houses in Thailand and the many sculptural manifestations of the Buddha all affected the way I saw my environment.

Upon my return I began to make a number of pieces that dealt directly with the iconic image of the Buddha. Sometime later, while spending time in a primitive dune shack in out in the National Seashore Provincetown, I came upon the idea of raking large Zen Gardens out in the dunes and photographing them.

These works seem like a kind of synthesis of a lot of the work I have been doing for the past twenty years – the Site Works and Snail Drawings series most particularly. I continue to be drawn to the idea of making a mark in the environment that is both temporary as well as rather puzzling as to how and why it was made.

Zen Dune: "Euphoria #2", 2003, Raked sand and flora, variable size