ROOT CAUSE
Interdependence
Suffering has causes, but we can't always see them.
Root Cause makes those causes visible. Ignorance, desire, attachment, anger and consequence become parts of a wheel we can actually stand in front of.
The sculpture grew out of the ancient Buddhist Wheel of Life. I wasn't trying to reproduce it.
I wanted to take the idea apart and rebuild it in a contemporary form.
CAN I MAKE THAT VISIBLE?
Things don't happen by themselves. They happen because other things make them possible.
A seed can become a tree - but only with soil, water, sunlight, temperature and time. The tree produces fruit and more seeds.
What began as a result becomes the beginning of something else.
It isn't a straight line. It's a network.
That is the idea at the center of Root Cause. One thing affects another, which affects another. The wheel keeps turning as long as the conditions that keep it going remain.
THE FORCES THAT KEEP THE WHEEL TURNING
PIG
Ignorance.
Not seeing things clearly.
BIRD
Desire and attachment.
Reaching for what we want.
SNAKE
Aversion and anger.
Pushing away what we don't want.
The pig, bird and snake give these forces a physical form. Their bodies are made from words - including I, ME, MINE - making our attachment to ourselves visible.
These aren’t mysterious forces somewhere outside us. They’re ordinary reactions: something feels good and we want more. Something feels bad and we want it gone.
LANGUAGE BECOMES FORM
Before the words become the bodies of the animals, they begin as flat maps.
I build the language on a flat surface and then wrap it around the three-dimensional form.
BIRD - FLAT LANGUAGE MAP
PIG - FLAT MAP / REVERSED FOR CLARITY
The words aren't added to the sculpture.
The words become the sculpture.
WORD
PARTICIPATION
SYSTEM
BODY
SYMBOL
RELATIONSHIP
The sculpture from language into form, from form into relationship, and from relationship into action.
WE TURN THE WHEEL
The sculpture doesn't turn by itself. You put your hand on the circular base and push.
You push. The wheel moves. Eventually it slows. Another push sets it moving again.
Suddenly you're not just looking at cause and effect. Your own action has become part of it.
THE WAY OUT
The Buddha is part of Root Cause. It isn't a separate sculpture.
Standing beside the wheel, the Buddha points beyond it - to the possibility that if we can see what's happening clearly enough, we don't have to keep repeating it.
The sequence isn't inevitable. Somewhere between feeling something and reacting to it, there can be awareness. Change the conditions and the wheel can stop.
MAKING INTERDEPENDENCE
3D-printed language becomes physical parts
The fabricated wheel in the studio