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Saul Gray-Hildenbrand • Statement—Dictionary Series
Obsession, language, and people inform my current work. I see my work as having a vague and open narrative. A narrative that can evolve with passage of time or change in context is the goal. All things can be assigned meaning, and all meaning can be fluid under the conditions of time and place. Text is not added to my work to clarify or describe. It is there to add texture and dimension. A common phrase or single word can be fascinating in its isolation. The dictionary is the great warehouse of words in isolation. I imagine all the words in jars, some long dead, some with two heads, and others that change completely depending on your perspective. The reverence for the dictionary led me to dissect two antique dictionaries.
Dictionary pages are the ground for a project that will last at least a decade, and continue to inform my other work. I alternate the dictionaries' pages (the even from one and the odd of the other) in an attempt to catch most of the words (the dictionaries are not identical). The painting or drawings are a reaction to the word sometimes literal, sometimes ironic, and sometimes absurd. Sometimes the literal is the most absurd. The figures are often in an ambiguous space. The expressions on the faces come from observations of people in public spaces. The face at rest or unengaged is what I observe and this allows an open narrative to unfold. The person who is alone in a crowd is seldom just standing and grinning. That person would appear daft or psychotic instead one stands there quiet, pensive and mysterious.
Saul Gray-Hildenbrand • Biography
EDUCATION
2000
Bachelor of Fine Arts: Concentration in Art and Design, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan
1999
Kingston University Exchange Program: Concentrations- Ceramics, Sculpture, and Painting, London, England
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2007
LaFontsee Galleries, "2007-a," Grand Rapids, Michigan
2006
Bank of the Southwest, "Green-eyed Monster," Solo Exhibition, Phoenix, Arizona
2005
Satellite Gallery, "Gluttony," Grand Rapids, Michigan
"Artfestation," Grand Rapids, Michigan
Satellite Gallery, "Sputnik, " Grand Rapids, Michigan
Lowell Area Arts Council, "Lowell Regional Arts Juried Exhibition," Lowell, Michigan
First United Methodist Church, "Celebration of the Arts - 32nd Annual Religious Art Show, " Juried Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Received Honorable Mention
2004
Holland Area Arts Council, "Holland Area Arts Council Regional Competition, " Juried Exhibition, Holland, Michigan
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, "Art on the Wall," Boulder, Colorado
City Street Bagels, "Words Up," Group Exhibition, Boulder, Colorado
2003
Gallery Sovereign, "Gallery Sovereign Juried Exhibition," Boulder, Colorado
2002
Lo-Fi Gallery, Group Exhibition, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Nines Gallery, "A Figurative Moment," Three-Person Exhibition, Douglas, Michigan
Gallery Sovereign, Group Exhibition, Boulder, Colorado
2001
Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, "Live Coverage," Grand Rapids, Michigan
Lowell Area Arts Council, "Lowell Regional Arts Juried Exhibition," Juried Exhibition, Lowell, Michigan
2000
Calder Art Gallery, "Circles of Meat and Sugar," BFA Exhibition, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan
1999
"Firms in Land," Group Exhibition, Surbiton, England
