Exhibited: H - Z: Hunter Stabler

My work deals with the architecture, patterning and symbols of mythical and theoretical origins. I use multicultural religiously-based patterns and cymatic patterns to construct images of mystical creatures, subtle invisible phenomena, theoretical shapes of the universe, and microcosmic vibratory events. In this body of work I am creating variations on the notion of Yantra. Yantra are geometric designs used in rituals as a revelatory conduit of cosmic truths. The compositions drawn reductively in ink or cut out of paper are designed to generate optical movement toward and away from the center simultaneously, to serve as a meditative and mentally centering instrument. The imagery is not strictly Dharmic and comes from varied sources including totemic animals, war scenes, invented pattern, symbols of Jewish Mysticism, Norse Mythological imagery, various religious sigils and esoteric imagery.

The formal aspects of my work involve a play between the illusion of space, actual physical space, and the two-dimensionality of the paper. Perspectival patterning creates the illusion of form. Flat patterning defines the surface of the picture plane, and a physical cast shadow shows the actual space and thinness of the cut-paper. It is my aim to create magical and spatially complex work that is in conversation with ancient, canonical, modernist, and contemporary ideas of spatiality in art making.

Hunter Stabler has a B.F.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art and a M.F.A. in painting from the University of Pennsylvania. He has exhibited at galleries and institutions including Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE; GPS, Chicago, IL; Berliner Kunstsalon Art Fair, Kunstraum Richard Sorge, Berlin, Germany and more. His recent Award/Honor is an artist in residence at McColl Center for Visual Arts.