Bryan Hutchison

Artist Statement

Much of my work replies to texts from literature: mythologies from biblical texts, family histories, Latin American novels, Spanish Golden Age Morality plays, post-apocalyptical fiction, and others.

The gravitas of a person’s tie to place was a revelation to me while reading 100 Years of Solitude. Ursula’s roots become unmovable with the death of her husband, and partner, despite their joint dreams to travel the world, buck tradition, and forge a new future. This named and described an etymology to grief, loss, and melancholy that paralleled my own experience in loss of places in my hometown, and later on to wilderness.

Ken Burns describes a half life to grief that never ends: not meaningless, but work towards recontextualizing mythologies, stories, and lessons.

From the story of Lot’s wife, to a local history of a religious Gold mine (my grandfather worked there), to stories of the beginning of the human condition (Adam, Eve), I’m asking for moments of reconsideration.