My work generally is concerned with three themes: time, technology, and the urban landscape.

On Time:
It is difficult for us to think beyond the reach of our own mortality.  The average person will consider implications of their actions for their children's future but it's a rare few that ponder the legacy left for descendants.

Artist Brian Eno coined a term for long-term thinking: "The Long Now".  Regarding his move to New York City:
"Everything was exciting, fast, current, and temporary. Enormous buildings came and went, careers rose and crashed in weeks. You rarely got the feeling that anyone had the time to think two years ahead, let alone ten or a hundred. Everyone seemed to be ‘passing through’. It was undeniably lively, but the downside was that it seemed selfish, irresponsible and randomly dangerous. I came to think of this as "The Short Now", and this suggested the possibility of its opposite - "The Long Now"."

This concept is powerful.  An entire organization has been built up around the concept, The Long Now Foundation, and their principles and my own align.

The second question I am asked by people (after "huh?") is usually "what for?".  The answer is built into the concept.  We won't make it without long-term planning and without learning from our own history.

I have two audiences for the time-themed pieces:
1.  People 10,000 years from now
2.  People today

The message is different, however, for the two groups.  For the latter category I aim to suggest the conecept of stretching their concept of time to include the distant future.  The former category, however, will benefit by being able to view a slice of my time generation: what's important to me (us), what drives me (us), and what I (we) am (are) about.

On Technology:
I was born at the dawn of personal computing in 1980 and it has been said that mine is the digital generation.  I have always had a knack for the high-tech and it has served for a long time as a means to various ends: build a website, write a program, speed up photograph creation, etc.

Some years ago I determined that the technology itself had become foremost in my mind instead of the art.  Once I realized this I shifted away from the endless technology chase and started down a path looking for deeper meaning.

Technology is a major part of our daily life.  Laptops, HDTVs, iPods, mobile phones, the Internet, etc.  None of it has served to bring us any deeper understanding of the world, humanity, or spirituality.  Despite this we chase it relentlessly and many suffer from an addiction to the pursuit.


On the Urban Landscape:
The artificial landscape is just as captivating to me as the natural landscape was to artists for centuries.  When I photograph urban settings the goal is to capture a slice of time for the future.  I don't document but comment.  The relevance is tied directly into the premise of the time-themed pieces.

Thank you for reading this.  I hope that you have a deeper understanding of why I make the art I make.

Jonathan