Sonia
2025–2026
Relational assemblage

Sonia began with a step ladder placed in a corner of The Rigley Field and a lamp set on top of it.

A glass mannequin head later joined them on the ground nearby. As the arrangement continued to change, the head moved into its current position and the figure gradually began to emerge.

Later, Sonia began adopting accessories.

A Japanese paper mask more than 150 years old.
Scarves.
A hat from Paris-based Diane Pernet.
Sunglasses worn by the artist on his wedding day.
A Baggu tote whose striped pattern evokes the French marinière associated with sailors.
A ball cap from Tuba in Marseille, now carrying the fox mask from a hook above it.

Photographs include shared moments and images of Sonia and the artist together. Notes and other objects accumulated around them.

None of these things was originally placed there to become part of an artwork. The ladder, lamp, head, objects, walls, hooks, and spaces between them gradually began to belong together.

The figure that emerged is named Sonia, not as a portrait of a person, but for the role that relationship holds in the artist’s life: stabilizing, clarifying, and orienting.

Suspended above the entire assemblage is a UFO ornament held by a custom brass rod bent into an exclamation point and friction-fit directly into the wall.

The architecture remains part of the work. The corner provides its boundary. Existing hooks determine where things can hang. Objects have moved, accumulated, and changed position as the work has developed.

Sonia was not designed and then installed in the space.

It formed there.