Rocky Bridges @ HCC Ybor City

 Rocky Bridges is a native of Tarpon Springs who works in mixed-media, usually involving metal. In the early 2000s he received a three year National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts grant. He teaches at the Harrison Arts Center in Lakeland, and graduated from Cooper Union in NYC. He won Mainsail in 2009, and has been exhibited broadly around the state and in this area.

Rocky Bridges, "Structured Truth #50"

In his artists' statement for this show he emphasizes how the materials used in these in these mixed media assemblages are rescued from becoming scrap and reconfigures and repurposed as art.
Bridges is the kind of artist who makes many variants on a theme, though each is an individual work on its own. They tend to have high belt lines, overlays, and color and textural fields. Some have what look like clasps. Strangely, in spite of these repeating design elements, each work is distinct.

Rocky Bridges, "Connections"

The artist has said that the work takes discarded objects that have accrued a history and recontextualizes them into new forms. There are analogues between the way objects and people are processed by this culture, and a lot of us find ourselves in a similar situation. By reinventing these broken or outmoded forms, he is making a metaphorical positive statement about celebrating the beauty, experience, history, meaning and strength in each of us.

Rocky Bridges, "Connections", detail

Congratulations to Rocky Bridges, Carolyn Kossar and HCC Ybor for a memorable show.




--- Luis 

 Rocky Bridges is a native of Tarpon Springs who works in mixed-media, usually involving metal. In the early 2000s he received a three year National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts grant. He teaches at the Harrison Arts Center in Lakeland, and graduated from Cooper Union in NYC. He won Mainsail in 2009, and has been exhibited broadly around the state and in this area.

Rocky Bridges, "Structured Truth #50"

In his artists' statement for this show he emphasizes how the materials used in these in these mixed media assemblages are rescued from becoming scrap and reconfigures and repurposed as art.
Bridges is the kind of artist who makes many variants on a theme, though each is an individual work on its own. They tend to have high belt lines, overlays, and color and textural fields. Some have what look like clasps. Strangely, in spite of these repeating design elements, each work is distinct.

Rocky Bridges, "Connections"

The artist has said that the work takes discarded objects that have accrued a history and recontextualizes them into new forms. There are analogues between the way objects and people are processed by this culture, and a lot of us find ourselves in a similar situation. By reinventing these broken or outmoded forms, he is making a metaphorical positive statement about celebrating the beauty, experience, history, meaning and strength in each of us.

Rocky Bridges, "Connections", detail

Congratulations to Rocky Bridges, Carolyn Kossar and HCC Ybor for a memorable show.




--- Luis