From the artist:

My work evolves from the elements within the materials and the energy generated when materials come together. Basically I see myself as a mechanical builder, so I feel obsessed with the building process. I like to consider the physical and mental relationships between our bodies and the sculpture, and localized focus of energy into one point.

Van Houten is a native of Danbury, Connecticut, and taught sculpture for twenty-four years at the University of Southern Mississipi, where he founded the sculpture program.