". . . to experience it necessarily wrongly."

Bryan Florentin
November 22-January 3, 2026
Opening reception Saturday, November 22, 5:00-7:00 pm

Artist Statement

Much of my recent work is an investigation of the ways in which photographs, objects, and materials intersect, overlap, collide, or integrate. For example, I created photographic sculptures that appear to be ordinary, even banal materials such as foam rubber, plywood, and particle board. These objects do not just pose questions about what is real. All material objects are "real," just not necessarily what they appear to be. The work is concerned with the relationship between images, objects, and materials and the question of when does a photograph become more object than image and when does it hover in the space between the two. Intertwined with that is how I work with, or sometimes against, the properties of the materials used to manifest such images/objects.

Prepared Shelves 6.2 side 2, 2024, inkjet print, 34" x 34"

Related work includes the "Prepared Shelves" series that is comprised of multiple subseries, most of which are a sequence of four photographs. While John Cage "prepared" pianos to produce unpredictable or unusual sound, I'm filling shelving with disparate objects, including photographs, in preparation for being photographed from two sides. More than that it is prepared for what happens next: I push it over, allowing it to crash onto the floor, then I photograph the result from overhead. The photographs only show the top half of shelving that is in fact six feet tall. When the shelves are loaded with objects of various weight and mass, the pull of gravity during the fall coupled with the force generated when slamming into the floor redistributes the objects in unpredictable ways. For one last overhead photograph, I remove the shelving and allow the contents to collapse further into disorder.

Bryan Florentin's work has been exhibited at various venues nationally. Recent solo exhibitions include Something Tangible at Texas A&M University, College Station and On or About the (Uncanny) Double "World" at Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas. As Associate Professor of Art at the University of Texas at Arlington, Florentin teaches courses in photography, photo history, and the history of LGBTQ+ art. He holds an M.F.A. in photography from the University of North Texas and a B.A. in art and performance from the University of Texas at Dallas.