Recent BFA graduate Seth Lewis's work for Outside In, Hatching Apparatus, consists of four ceramic eggs resting upon a bed of sand, all connected by coiling umbilical hoses to a compressor. Each egg contains a machine run by pneumatic cylinders. At specific times the eggs will burst open - hatching - as the machines break free from their ceramic casings. The machines themselves consist of a steel frame with a clear vinyl covering and five cylinders tipped by bronze castings of bird skulls. Each machine will hatch, one at a time, over the course of four days, creating an 'event' in the cycle of the work that the viewer can choose to witness. In addition, the eggs are translucent. Warm light shines from the inside of each egg, illuminating the creature/machine inside in silhouette until it is suddenly and sharply hatched.

As an artist it has become my desire to explore the various forms of human interaction and the human condition as a whole. My plan is to do this through the medium of machines. Machines, along with having the ability to act out performances in the absence of human performers, are to me an inherent part of human existence. We are integrally linked to our technology and it to us. These creatures or children that I create serve to help me explore aspects of my own life and the lives of others that I don't fully understand and feel like I need to express to other people. The themes in this exploration will range from sensuality and sentimentality to violence to the basic biological needs such as eating and sleeping. As actors my pieces will continuously perform their established tasks to properly express my concerns and lines of query.

The question as to why I do not use human actors to do the work is answered by the inherent nature of machines as tools without the ability to bring in external influence or personal expression that is carried by all beings with individuality ( though this may change sometime in the near future). The machines are extensions of myself and slaves to my will as far as nature and physics will allow; something that ethically I could not ask of other people. If the nature of machine existence were to change so would my viewpoint on the purpose and place of my pieces. I do not mean that there is no emotional connection between me and my art. This cannot be because of my belief. If I had no feeling for them I would have no feeling for myself since they are me and I them. As of now my pieces are nothing more than body parts that express my thoughts and emotions.

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