Sky Diving & Base Jumping
Skydiving Video Playlist
The relationship between my skydiving and my art practice is unclear; they fight for my ongoing focus. In fact, I have been trying to quit skydiving since 1993, art since 1986. But I keep on doing both.
Over the years, I have brought the two together in a handful of works (see right bar). Sports practice is difficult to transition into art, because sports are already metaphors and full of symbolism and metaphors, such as war, conflict and death. So adding a conceptual layer is a challenge. I have found that focusing on details rather than trying to capture the whole experience is more successful. See for example Liquid Face, 2003.
As of August 19, 2015 I had 2147 jumps including over 800 camera jumps (see a selection in video player above), and 36 hours of accumulated freefall time. From the beginning, I was interested in making photography part of my sport. So, many of my jumps have been documented using 35mm film and digital still cameras, super-8 film, and VHS though DV video. I am currently jumping a SONY Sports Cam AS-15.
Mostly I parachute from planes, but I also have done 34 BASE jumps (i.e from Buildings, Antennas, and Spans). My first Bridge jump was at Bridge day in West-Virginia, 1994. Among other Earth objects, I have jumped off Angel Falls in Venezuela in 1998, and Kjerag cliff in Norway, 2011. My BASE number is 572.
Since 2009, I have concentrated on wingsuit flying from airplanes, and now have over 400 wingsuit jumps. I was a participant in the 26-way Canadian Wingsuit Formation Record at Parachute Montreal, on August 23, 2014.
