I was delighted to hear the team behind the Pendry Hotels speak of the California Light and Space Movement, when they asked me to create this artwork for Pendry DC’s lobby. The California Light and Space Movement are a loose affiliation of artists who focus on perceptual and sensory phenomena, and they often incorporate new and emerging technologies into their work.

When creating Oasis, I reflected upon my personal experiences, arriving at hotels around the world, sometimes disoriented, jetlagged, and questioning everything about the reality surrounding me. Travelers are often wondering: Where am I? What is going on at home right now? What are the people around me saying? Sometimes, I am waiting for a room in the morning before check-in. Sometimes, I check-in and sleep for a couple of hours or go to a meeting. Other times, I check in at 1 am, cannot sleep because it is mid-afternoon where I come from, and I need to walk.

Our body clocks are in one space and our physical space is out of synchronization. Our senses are hyper aware: sights, sounds, and smells are different, but strangely familiar. This experience is something that can be translated better in art than it can be words. It is a sense of place, and senses out of place, in the shifting realities that make up travel.

I created Oasis to reflect the subtle disorientations of travel, and also, to evoke a sense of calm, curiosity, and presence that comes with seeing ourselves in new places.