Bill Lowe Gallery presents Poet of a Threatened Eden, a comprehensive survey of works by American multi-disciplinary artist, Frank Hyder. Hyder is best known for his use of cinematic devices to create a mysterious, metaphysical reality of intense light and shade, where forms appear and dissolve, moving the viewer to dream with eyes open - to feel without touching, and to feel touched by the very experience of seeing. Hyder’s works depict a ceremonial reverence for nature, and function as reliquaries which facilitate emotional bonds to the natural world - a world that is often forgotten, ignored, and abused.
This retrospective focuses on works created from 1986 thru 2018 and features Hyder’s hand-carved, scored, engraved and painted works on wood and other media, ranging in scale from monumental to intimate. Each functions as altar piece in organic cathedrals composed of the earth’s great forests, rivers and mountains – from the Americas to Europe and Africa. Hyder’s work is noted for its enigmatic light sources, which are achieved through dense layering of media that conveys the rich materiality and sensuality of the organic universe, and our spiritual connection to it.
As our world has grown ever more congested by population explosion, industrial/technological contamination and destruction of habitats, cohabitation with us by other species has become increasingly strained. Each day, a timeless equilibrium is further disrupted. We move closer and closer to a breaking point. The historic works in this exhibition serve as a clarion call to remind us that there is a reasonable path to restoring balance.
The exhibition opens Friday, March 26th, 2022 from 6 – 9 PM and is open to the public.
Frank Hyder has participated in more than 200 group shows and over 100 solo exhibitions throughout the Americas, Asia and Europe, including 10 individual exhibitions in New York City. Solo museum exhibitions at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Carnegie Museum CA, La Salle Museum of Art, National Museum of Catholic Art and History and The Noyes Museum and in Venezuela at the Museum of Modern Art Caracas, Museo Jacobo Borges, Museum of Modern Art Zulia, Museo Universidad de Los Andes and Museum of Modern Art Coro. He was among 80 artists selected as part of an exhibit of graduates of the Maryland Institute College of Art showcasing 160 years. His “The Janis Project” exhibited at the Museum of the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, the Art Students League of New York City and the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA. He was selected to create a piece in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, was selected to create a ceramic installation in Oxnard, California and was a finalist for the Oregon Department of Transportation building and the Penn Treaty Park I-95 Access Project. He has created numerous murals with the prestigious Mural Arts Program of Philadelphia. He also created an interactive urban project with the Chicago Loop Authority.
