Press Release
Farmington-based artist Tyler Huntzinger is exhibiting his abstract paintings in a show titled “Memoryscapes” at Utah State University Eastern’s Gallery East from March 10 to April 10. The opening reception and artist’s talk is Friday, March 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“We live in a world of memory,” Huntzinger said. “Anything about our world must be sensed, then this information must be processed. So, by the time we know anything of what is taken in, it is all already in the past. As this temporal distance expands, the frequency of processing of progressively irrelevant data diminishes. Much of this data seems likely lost completely. Any bits that are continued to be processed will encounter gradual distortions and fragmentation.”
The materials Huntzinger uses and the manner he uses them for his paintings emphasizes the idea of the fragmentation of memory over time.
Throughout the work’s progression, “I preserve much of the spontaneity of the material’s natural interactions with each other. These interactions are manifested in the finished pieces as bleeding edges on shapes, erosion of dissolved areas and beaded forms. I am particularly interested in using materials that are not often combined and may be considered unconventional in the creation of gallery pieces. For example, I use microscopic, reflective glass beads, mica powders, metal flakes and even roofing tar.”
Huntzinger’s connections to the area include spending several summers in the early 2000s at the intensive painting workshops taught by David Dornan in Helper as well as family history he was influenced by.
He said, “the paintings hanging in our homes were mostly works by my maternal grandfather, Robert Fiske Hightower. His family worked for the railroad in Helper, Utah for years before and after my birth. He passed before I was ever really able to know him, but was quite struck by how real to me this person was because of these paintings I saw every day. That’s why I describe my work as pursuing a form of immortality through objects that endured after my passing became, and remains, irresistibly appealing.”
Gallery East is located at 451 East 400 North in Price on the main floor of the Central Instructional Building. Gallery Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and there is no admission charge.