Shaun Bullens
Anxious, 2007
Mahogany, ash, and monitors
Courtesy of the artist

Originally trained as a painter, Shaun Bullens later completed training in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century furniture making at the North Bennett Street School in Boston. In Anxious, Bullens merges traditional furniture forms, naturalistic elements, and digital media to create two sculptural forms that are activated by a digital narrative. The parakeet, appropriately named Bird, is captive in the cage on the left but is able to take virtual flight from the branch on the right. Billens’ work explores the lack of personal space and the resultant anxiety in the contemporary world. The artist is questioning our own sense of freedom in today’s chaotic and increasingly confined world: are we similarly caged or are we free?