Bryan Hunt, “Amphora”

Bryan Hunt, Amphora, 1982.

American, born 1947

Born in Indiana, Bryan Hunt attended the University of South Florida with the intention of becoming an architect, but he was quickly drawn to painting. He moved to Los Angeles to attend the Otis Art Institute, where he obtained his BFA in 1971. Hunt’s sculptures in the early 1970s were architectural models of famous landmark structures, such as the Hoover Dam and the Empire State Building. Later, he began to explore modern philosophy and literary theory, admiring the purist aesthetics of Barnett Newman (1905–1970) and the newly established minimalists. His work soon took a new direction; rather than adopting pure abstraction he applied the clarity of minimalist forms to his representations of objects and places.

In 1979–80, fascinated by topography, he modeled amorphous sculptures of Lakes and Waterfalls. The bronze surfaces are highly articulated to convey a sense of energy—a stylistic tradition established by Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) in the 1880s and revitalized by Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) in the 1940s and ‘50s. Hunt was especially inspired by Willem de Kooning’s (1904–1997) sculptures of the 1970s.

Throughout the 1980s, Hunt retained this highly modeled surface texture while focusing on motifs from classical Greek art and culture. His Maenad sculptures, although abstract, evoke the swirling draperies of Hellenistic works. Amphora refers to a tall, slender, two-handled vessel, usually made of clay and used to store food and drink, especially wine. However, rather than a sturdy, practical container, Hunt’s Amphora is flat and visually unstable; it serves primarily as a pretext for modeling forms and creating expressive surfaces. Viewers are free to solely enjoy the visual, but may also see an analogy for the diminished appreciation of most classical culture today.

Location: Bass Concert Hall Lobby, Third Floor

GPS: 30.285811,-97.731111

地点：Bass Concert Hall Lobby，三楼

GPS: 30.285811,-97.731111