Artist Statement

Art can deliver information and also obscure it. I am interested in the push and pull. I have transitioned from overt representation of figures and ideas to mysterious narratives, to fields of light and shadow being cast on familiar objects. My paintings and sculptures in a way are sealed packages to be forever shaken but never fully unwrapped. I am letting myself be guided by emotional decisions more than higher conceptual planes. The work I feel is a reaction to an increasingly noisy and hyper-stimulating world of blips and beeps. Quietude and mystery are the meadows and oceans that allow for reflection, settling and breath.   

I like to use material with a history or a prior utility. Nostalgic charm presented self aware of its uselessness: matches covered in a layer of polymer unthreatening and stripped of their ephemeral smoke and flame; Books glued and painted shut render their stories memories of memories; Wood used to support other art is cut into hundreds of pieces and tied back together with plastic cable ties. The strength now sags like a blanket but lacks the tactile comfort. -Saul Gray-Hildenbrand

Artist Biography

Born In Petosky, MI in 1977.
Saul received his BFA from Grand Valley State University in 2000.

Foreign study:  sculpture at Kingston University, Surbiton, England in 1999.   

Saul was born and raised in Michigan, has lived in Colorado, California, and currently resides near Nashville, Tennessee.  

Saul has worked as preparator, curator, picture framer, factory worker, video clerk, racetrack utility man, and as disaster mitigation tech. All of these vocations have informed his work.  

Saul works in a variety of media from oil painting to installation. His work is influenced by folk, modern art and contemporary art. Saul's paintings, drawings, and sculptures are a reaction to the world around him - sometimes mundane sometimes ironic sometimes absurd with a sprinkling of dark humor and joyful misanthropy.