Artist Statement(s)

General Statement (Paintings) :: View the Work

My works are primarily an exploration and visual representation of the self as an image. It is in this iconographic style, that I aim to evoke a conversation about identity, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, while illustrating the way we use these labels to simplify society as a whole. My use of geometric form and a limited palette typically classifies my paintings as abstract. However, my use of color is symbolic, as each color represents different segments of the world’s population. Therefore, the shape, position, and size of the colored forms become a comment on race, class, stereotypes, and identity in America and the world. The relationship among the colors is a revelation about domination, conflict, separation, and harmony among races and cultures.

My use of color in my paintings, reduce complicated matters of identity to simple elements, much like society does. The tension created between simplistic forms representing complex subjects allows the viewer to contemplate how the presumptions and reactions of others affect how we see ourselves. By compartmentalizing these divisions within a culture, I aim to catch the viewer in some level of profiling and preconception. By this subversive confrontation, I hope to challenge the viewer to question where they stand in the mix and contemplate the depth of one’s own identity.

The painting New American Minority can be seen as a comment on how irrational fear and misunderstanding toward the arrival of Asian peoples homogenizes a variety of cultures and identifies them as “other,” The work could be viewed simply as a classic minimalist painting, but a darker side of my vision surfaces only in the title where the true meaning of the colors are revealed. The contrasting colors form a visual tension between black and white lines that symbolize black and white America, while the interjection of yellow lines that symbolize Asian America represents the struggle to integrate into an already segregated society.

The Holding Pattern :: View the Series

My latest series of photo-based prints is entitled Holding Pattern. My subjects are attractive women in their mid 20s to late 30s, and superimposed upon their faces are monochromatic decorative patterns, the combination of which brings to the surface ideas of symmetry, objects of decoration and femininity. This is the start of a much larger body of work that will soon appear in my paintings and ultimately installation work. The final works are displayed via archival heat transfer print on board, and I hope to experiment soon with the sizing and placement of the subjects as well as the positioning of the images within the exhibition space.

Experimentation and evolution are essential to the development of all artists. In my opinion, an artist’s worth is based on his or her ability to grow and change with his or her surroundings and to also inspire transformation and progress in others. The future of my work is in finding a balance between the precision my artistic approach and the paradox presented in the questions I explore. I am continually fascinated by the apparent contrast between new and old and I strive to find a place where preservation meets innovation. While employing the modernity of clean lines and bold colors, the familiarity of icons plucked from popular culture’s past along with interpretations drawn from my own experiences, I hope to accurately depict my experience and define my voice as a member of contemporary American society. Within this juxtaposition of contrasting forms and subject matter, I hope to impart a sense of originality, an astute commentary on modern society and the creation of a unique graphic vision for the future.

The Beauties :: View the Series

As much of my work tends to generate new ideas for new work, the visual simplicity of my paintings petitioned for a contrast that could only be brought about by photographic images of the human as a subject, in both form and concept. My photographic work ranges from universal visions of social structures to intimately personal visualizations of individuals, setting the work just so far from that of my contemporaries. In these works, I also explore my personal struggle to meet the demands of a blended racial heritage. With the levity of disguise, I am able to vastly change the superficial ‘first impression’ that I present to the world. By dealing with the weighty subjects of ethnicity and sexuality through this dissection and multiplication of my own identity, I attempt to shed a playful and often humorous light on contentious issues.

The Beauties Series, which includes Staying Warm, Fun in the Sun, and America’s Most Beautiful Debs, are an example of works that explore conventions of beauty and sexuality as I decipher their connection to myself through digitally manipulated advertisements from vintage Ebony Magazine and Jet Magazine Beauties of the Week. As this series evolves, I've begun to use this imagery to explore my own identity by digitally superimposing my face onto the original images. The future of the series is to employ this style and approach to including additional images of men as well as women, thereby examining the often indistinct borders of modern sexual identity.

Equilibrium (Deco) :: View the Series

In my Equilibrium (Deco) Series, I have begun to juxtapose two movements in the history of art and design — Minimalism and Rococo — opening up each piece to the viewers’ own interpretations on decoration, pop art and pattern. I frequently explore balance, symmetry and harmony in a post-painterly minimalist style. Recently, my experimentations with positive and negative space have developed into a more intricate intersection between geometric and curvilinear shapes. Vibrant colors and high contrast create precise visions of order and joy, inviting the viewer to come closer. However, the order, joy, conflict, and tension represented in my work are not incongruous. The various colors and shapes are combined to conjure up a positive, multifaceted, and realistic outlook on the future of relationships between seemingly disparate components of society.

The Kentucky Gentleman :: View the Series

In The Kentucky Gentleman Series, I aimed to present an individual as seen through a kaleidoscopic lens of multiple races, not only allowing the viewer to enjoy the aesthetic transformation, but also leaving one to contemplate the complexities of race and class stereotypes, and the depth of one’s own identity. I was compelled to create the Kentucky Gentlemen Series as a comment on my ethnic heritage and the experiences that are connected to that heritage. As a member of contemporary American society with a difficult to define ethnic makeup, I hope to leave us all questioning the disparity between what comprises us as individuals.

Exbibition History :: 2010 - 2006 :: 2005 - 1997 :: Awards & Publications

Upcoming Exhibitions
2010 - Presentation - The Green Building Gallery, Louisville, KY
2010 - Embracing Ambiguities - California State University, Fullerton, CA

Past Exhibitions :: 2010 - 2006
2009 Solo Exhibition Green Building Gallery
2008 Group Exhibition The Kentucky Museum of Art and Design
2008 City Myths Luminary Arts Center, St. Louis, MO
2008 Artist-in-Residency NY Arts International, Beijing, China
2007 Solo Exhibit Green Building Gallery
2007 Finding Family 21c Museum, Louisville, KY
2006 Navigation Gallery 253, Atlanta, GA
2006 NBAF Embrace Mason Muir Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2006 Invitational Aaron Galleries, Chicago, IL
2006 Invitational Art Chicago, Chicago, IL
2005-2006 New Acquisitions Henry Schein INC., Melville NY
2005-2006 HEXONA: IdentitySwap, The Adorno Studio, Louisville, KY

Exbibition History :: 2010 - 2006 :: 2005 - 1997 :: Awards & Publications

Past Exhibitions :: 2005- 1997
2005 Group Exhibition Exhibitions 2d, Marfa TX
2005 The Water Tower Annual The Water Tower Art Museum, Louisville KY
2005 Minimalism Swanson Reed Contemporary Louisville KY
2004 The Water Tower Annual The Water Tower Art Museum, Louisville KY
2003 Invitational Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville KY
2003 Invitational Exhibitions 2D, Marfa TX
2003 Invitational The Kentucky State University, Frankfort KY
2002 Invitational Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville KY
2001 NEXT The Watertower Museum of Art, Louisville KY
2000 Invitational Soloman Fine Art, Seattle WA
2000 About Skin Swanson Reed Contemporary, Louisville KY
1999 Inequitable Conditions Gallery of Fine Arts , Lexington KY
1999 Beyond The Walls The Speed Art Museum, Louisville KY
1997 Group Exhibit Gallerie Nicolae, Columbus OH

Exbibition History :: 2010 - 2006 :: 2005 - 1997 :: Awards & Publications

Awards
1997 Full Scholarship, Kent State University, Kent OH
2002 Speaker, Digital Media in Contemporary Art
Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY
2000 New Artists Award, Water Tower Art Museum, Louisville KY
2004 Partial Scholarship, Scholarship America, St. Peter, MN
2005 Kentucky Arts Council Grant

Publications

Bryce Hudson: Explorations in the Shadow of Pop Culture
ISBN-10: 0979700612
ISBN-13: 978-0979700613
Published by: Holland Brown Books