In 2016 I began working with Freeman and Lowe as a fabricator, creating 3D assets that were later printed for their show at the Storefront Gallery. That work led into me being hired for a commission to create the mosaic attic in their permanent exhibit at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2018. I was commissioned to create large-scale murals resembling the inside of a cave. Because of my background in interactive and immersive art, this was right in line with my practice. My role was to build the world, while the team focused on how to realize it technically.

That year I developed methods for making these cave-like surfaces last “for the inevitable future.” Along the way I built countless sculptures, most of them pre-production tests for what would become a six-month build and installation in Cleveland. Those test pieces were later purchased by a restaurant in New York City — JUKU, a sushi spot in the Financial District. What had begun as experiments for the museum ended up living in a commercial setting, and I spent a month installing them there. It meant I now had to produce entirely new works for the museum.

When I moved to Cleveland, the project scaled into a 14 × 24 × 16 foot mosaic cave we called the attic. Alongside that, I also created the foreground moss and mountain layout for the dioramas, the layout for the White Tile Room, and additional pieces that completed the museum installation. At the same time I was writing and producing Compusa.live. As the project went on it became clear that the payments weren’t right — they tried to underpay me and eventually rip me off. I quit. They attempted to reproduce my style but couldn’t. The attic, in my eyes, was left a mess. They had the chance to do something meaningful, but they weren’t real artists — they were actors playing artists.

That moment marked the end of my career in art fabrication. Don’t worry — I sued, and I got my money.