Cold

This extremely blurry photo was taken during a class trip in my senior year of high school.  That's me on the right, looking like complete stranger who was just passing by and decided to stop and chat, without noticing a picture was being taken.  I'm drawn to this picture because it highlights an aspect of my experience growing up as a teenager.  It depicts visually something I always felt internally during that time, the sense of being apart from everyone else.  Standing on the outside and looking in.  More so than any other picture taken of me, this one shows something of myself and my past in it.                                                                  

Designation: Mind Bubble Permutation Thing 01

Artist Statement

Games are what fuel me.  Not just playing games though, that isn’t even close to being enough.  What I need is to get inside of games, to see how their gears fit together, what makes them tick.   I need to feel out the imperfections, find what’s broken and understand why.  But it’s not enough.  I must look for innovation, new ways in which games can be used as both forms of expression and tools to effect change in the world.  I need to find ways to incorporate and combine varied disciplines such as mathematics, science, philosophy, and art, in order to better solve problems on both the local and global levels.  Games can be entertaining, but they can also be so much more.  They can provide simulations to prepare soldiers for the stresses they will encounter on the battlefield.  They can be used to solve the native structures of proteins in viruses to aid in medical research for curing diseases such as AIDS.  They can provide a comforting distraction from potentially traumatizing experiences during treatment to children in hospitals.  They can inform and educate about all kinds of subjects, from how the oil industry and multinational corporations run themselves to the daily lives of villagers in war-torn countries.  I envision games as a powerful tool for entertainment, enlightenment, and enrichment.  By integrating my insatiable thirst for intellectual fulfillment with a deep and profound passion for social justice, I hope to create games that serve as critical platform for changing the world.