“One reason I’m so drawn to C. Anthony Huber’s work is its innate heft. Not only in its physical weight but the materials he chooses: concrete, asphalt, flame. It’s heavy-duty stuff. And yet the finished compositions maintain a delicateness that can only come from a real understanding of his chosen media. Materials we associate with crude, large work like roadways and building foundations, welding, or other manufacturing, are approached by Huber with obvious care. Natural processes provide much of the intricate detail, like the crackled and charred, scored, and spotted surfaces. The addition of paint presents something like a reminder of the process: bright orange and deep black, textured white and warm grey… hinting to the viewer what the artist experienced or applied to get to the finished piece we see.”
Kate Mothes, Founder of Youngspace
Formally my work speaks to our natural tendency to find patterns and our predilection to match what we see to what we know. I seek to define patterns in compositions that intimate a sense of balance within a process that appears to be haphazard, experimental, and physical in nature.
While materiality and abstraction are central formal elements in my work, the conceptual focus of temporality and environment intersect to unmoor traditional notions of the painting medium. Furthermore, my work is influenced by the notion of what I term "urban wabi-sabi,” the traditional Japanese aesthetic underpinned by the acceptance of transience and imperfection and the physicality and conceptual processes found in damage and repair and the building up and wearing down of the surface.
Perhaps most influential were the years spent in war-torn Beirut and Beijing during the rise of the pro-democracy movement. Witness to physical manifestations of an ancient culture torn down to make way for economic gain greatly influences my work. Standing witness to war zones and expansive fields, urban streets, dilapidated rural towns, and visual landscapes hold memories and meanings and echo across my work.
Pillar Sundial, three years in the planning, was installed at Cascade Creek Park in Rochester, MN in June, 2021. Although the fifteen-foot, 2.5 ton sculpture serves as a way to mark time (any date of the year can be identified on the sculpture), it is an echo of the pre-historic mark-making found in the caves of Lascaux as an attempt to overlay some level of control in the seemingly chaotic world.
Education
1995 MA, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
1989 BA, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Honolulu, HI
Public Art Project - Pillar Sundial
2021 Pillar Sundial, Cascade Creek Park, Rochester, MN
North American Installation Project
2017/18 Elements Project, 35 States, BC, Yukon, NWT, Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, December 2017 - September 2018
Painting Solo Exhibitions
2020 In the Public Realm, Threshold Arts Gallery, Rochester, MN
2018 In Search of the Lost Glacier, 125 Live, Rochester, MN (July-Sept)
2017 Fire & Fumage, UCR Gallery, Rochester, MN
2016 Re-Surface, RAC2 Gallery, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
Painting Two Person
2016 Untitled, 535 Gallery Exhibition, Rochester, MN (with Cynthia Kath)
Painting Group Exhibition
2024 Spring/Summer Exhibit, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2023 Winter Salon Exhibition, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Summer Group Show, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2022 Winter Salon Exhibition, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2020 Mirror Eye, Ortega Y Gasset Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2020 Course of Nature, Anderson Center at Tower View, Red Wing, MN
2019 Fall Salon Exhibition, Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2018 In Situ, Cody Barber Studio, Marfa, TX
2017 Small Works, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
2017 ArtVenice Biennale IV, ARTism3160, Venice, Italy
2017 Together With, Rocky Mountain Academy of Art & Design, Philip J. Steele Gallery, Denver, CO (Sept)
2017 Together With, Diane Endres Ballweg Gallery, Madison, WI (May)
2016 Boston Biennial 4, Finalist, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, MA
2105 Project Bike with Dana Sikkila, 410 Project, Mankato, MN
2015 Pazzia: A Condition of Inspired Frenzie, Gallery 13, Minneapolis, MN
2015 Artistry, Bloomington Art Center, Bloomington, MN
2014 Encroaching City / Our Earth, Flow Art Space, St. Paul, MN
2013 build-up, build on (with Liddy Kohl & Rachel Egberg), Northfield Art Guild, Northfield, MN
Photography Group Exhibitions
2019 The Found Object, Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2019 CameraBOLD, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids, IA
Publications
F-Stop Magazine, “At Night,” Dec/Jan 2019
Creative Quarterly, No. 46, Spring 2017, Brooklyn
Art Maze Magazine, International Issue, No 2, 2017, London.
Studio Visit Magazine, Vol. 35, Winter 2017, New York
Art Reveal Magazine (cover), No. 17, June 2016, 34-39.
Fresh Paint Magazine (now Create! Magazine), International Edition, Issue 11, Feb. 2016, London
Media
Off 90, KMSQ, Season 9; R-Town, Episode 601, Minnesota Public Television, 2018
Brian Lund, “C. Anthony Huber: Ommission by cement, 507 / Entertainment Magazine, Cover image, Sept. 7, 2017
Samantha Keith, “C. Anthony Huber,” Fresh Contemporary Blog
Granquist, Paula, ArtZany, KYMN Radio, Artist Interview, Oct 16, 2016
Mothes, Kate, “C. Anthony Huber,” Young-Space Blog
Kosfelt, Gordy, AM Minnesota, Artist Interview, KDHL Radio, Oct 4, 2016
Eiler, Mike, Power 96 Radio Artist Interview, Sept 26, 2016
Julia Brown, ”Artists Offer New Perspectives at Paradise Center Exhibitions,” Faribault Daily News, Sept 8, 2016
507 / Entertainment Magazine, Art Out of Context, June 23, 2016
Bryan Lund, “Artist Takes Cue From Street,” Post-Bulletin, Feb. 16, 2016
507 / Entertainment Magazine, Artist in Focus, June 11, 2015, p. 12-13
Thomas Erickson, Art Review, Reverb Magazine, Feb.11, 2014
Books
2020 Lumen Naturae: Visions of the Abstract in Art and Mathematics, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, Prof. Matilde Marcolli.
Exhibitions Curated/Professional
2024 Public Art Sculpture Selection Committee, Arts4Trails, Cascade Lake Park, Rochester, MN
2019 Juror for Anderson Center at Tower View Fellowship Residency, Red Wing, MN
2017 Curator, To What End, Curator, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
2017 Founder, Gennesse Project Gallery, Rochester, MN
2015-16 Curator, Art at Steam, Café Steam, Rochester, MN
Residencies
2018 Anderson Center at Tower View Fellowship, Red Wing, MN
2017 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Grants
2017 / 2018 Vermont Studio Center Artist's Merit Grant
2015 McKnight Foundation Southeastern Minnesota Art Council (SEMAC) Individual Artist Grant
Galleries Representation
Veronique Wantz Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
huberstudio1@gmail.com