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Buster Graybill
Buster Graybill is an Associate Professor of Sculpture at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He utilizes sculpture, installation, video, and photography to traverse cultural boundaries and reconnect with often overlooked objects, materials, and places found in the rural landscape. Graybill has exhibited throughout Texas, as well as in Boston, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, and Guanajuato, Mexico. He is an alumnus of the Skowhegan Artist Residency and the Artpace International Artist-In-Residence program, as well as a recipient of grants from the San Antonio Artist Foundation and the Idea Fund, a program of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Resume (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Style: Visual Art: Abstract, Assemblage, Conceptual, Contemporary, Environmental, Minimalism, Site-Specific
Artist Medium: Aluminum; Fiber/Fabric; Steel; Wood; Found Objects
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
My artwork attempts to find commonality between the Contemporary Art world and the artifacts of my rural heritage. My ideas manifest in various materials and processes that oscillate between sculpture, installation, photography, video, and mixed-media. My conceptual motivations remain faithful to exploring unlikely connections between the dichotomous worlds of Contemporary Art and rural working-class utility. I refer to this confluence of conceptual motivations as Abstract Utility or Recreational Modernism. My creative process examines form, function, aesthetics, and perceived hierarchies of discrete objects associated with outdoor recreation like fishing and camping, or restoring a hotrod or 4x4. I repurpose, recontextualize, and reimagine familiar things like fishing corks, lawn chairs, and automotive parts into a tangible form of visual poetry. These artworks explore adaptation, displacement, escapism, class stratification, and upward mobility.
