“Untitled” by Hunter Foster, 2023, dyed canvas, oil on wood, 10.25×10.25×2.
ABOUT THIS PIECE:
“This piece belongs to a broader body of work that presents painting as a set of inversions. Firstly, an inversion of surface and edge: A flat picture plane is composed entirely of the (frayed) edges of the canvas. Secondly, a material inversion of frame: The material (wood) traditionally used for a painting’s frame or stretcher support bars is prepared with gesso, sanded, painted and has been relocated to the center of the painting, framed by the canvas itself.
“The piece retains all of the materials of conventional painting — canvas, pigment, wood — but compels painting into objecthood, partially through the performative aspect of their making. Tightly winding strips of canvas draws comparisons to hermetic or devotional practices or acts of care. I sometimes think of it as akin to dressing a wound or applying a cast to a broken limb.”
ARTIST BIO:
Hunter Foster, born in 1993 in Little Rock, is based in New Haven, Connecticut. He received an MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale School of Art and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited work at Perrotin gallery in New York; The Anderson at VCUarts in Richmond, Virginia; Lock Up International in London; The Hills Esthetic Center in Chicago; Gern en Regalia in New York; and Good Weather galleries in Chicago, Little Rock and North Little Rock, among others.
See Foster’s work on display at Good Weather’s Little Rock location March 15 – April 20, and follow him on Instagram at @the_principle_by_which. Learn more at goodweather.llc.