University of the Ozarks art major Tyler Shepherd uses his artwork to explore the human condition of fear in his Senior Art Exhibit, "The Nature of Fear," on display from Dec. 14-17 in the Stephens Gallery.
There will be a reception to meet the artist at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 15, in the gallery, which is located in the Walton Fine Arts Center.
Shepherd, from Rogers, Ark., describes his artwork as a "physical manifestation of a person’s fear of nature and how they would see it in their minds."
Senior art major Tyler Shepherd will present his Senior Art Exhibit, "The Nature of Fear," from Dec. 14-17 in the Stephens Gallery.
"My drawings and paintings capture the mental reaction people get when confronting their fears," he said. "For example, my sculptures depict how terrifying pollution would be if pollution was allowed to build up and accumulate into living creatures. The media for my sculptures are recyclable materials, mainly water bottles and cardboard boxes. The sizes of these sculptures are large to show how much product was consumed. The meaning behind these sculptures is to convince people to cut back on their consumptions and production of trash or there will be consequences to these actions. In this case the recycled material could manifest itself into a living creature that could cause havoc. This artwork is meaningful because creating these art pieces helps me to understand why some people could be afraid of a specific animal while others are not."
Shepherd said he draws inspiration for his artwork from both horror movies and real-world situations.
"The movies that influence me are mainly the kind where creatures attack humans for disrupting their ecosystem recklessly," Shepherd said. "The influence for my drawings and paintings is an action movie called "Darkman", which has a main character who had a psychological breakdown. When the screen zoomed in on that character to show what was in his mind, multiple images were shown rapidly. The influence on my sculptures is Garbage Island, a large mass of garbage that is floating in the Pacific Ocean. If there is enough garbage to create a large island, there’s probably enough garbage to manifest itself into becoming living creatures that will run amok and create havoc on mankind for their ignorance."
Topics: Exhibit