Bachrun LoMele

Lives and works in Pinehurst, CA, USA

Artist statement

Change through interaction, whether social or environmental, is a connecting theme throughout my work. Another linking theme is the meaning-outside-the-words in any attempt at truth — an apophatic approach to understanding. I feel that art has the potential to bridge perceived gaps within and between cultures, and pursuit of this goal motivates me. I make installations of varied objects, primarily using paper, with the intention of honoring the vibrations of truth telling by donors to my Burn Pile project, which began 12 years ago as a roving, interactive art installation by means of which I accumulated a donated, communal truth essence. Truth donors were invited to speak inside a private booth. Their statements were immediately scrambled with prior utterances from previous donors, thereby losing any accurate meaning. Donors then chose whether or not to release these garbled statements to be variously commemorated by me. I offered this interactive booth at various locations — shopping malls, thrift stores, flea markets and public parks — in Central California (and for a brief stint in Tennessee). By carefully making objects to commemorate these garbled readings of peoples’ innermost expressions, I aspire to show respect for an ambient sincerity freed of specificity. Does a greater truth—obscure, indefinable—arise from this? Does my personal labor in embellishing, arranging and presenting these scrambled utterances enhance them with meaning? I feel these questions have...

Artwork