GRAEM WHYTE
Graem Whyte’s recent works follow two distinctive trends: some are meditations on pre-existing themes, reconfiguring found objects or spaces into newly imagined constructs, while others fuse fragmentary elements from disparate sources into cohesive wholes. Mythical, cultural, scientific and personal references are modified and combined to create metaphors that re-imagine our environments, our systems, and our futures. These investigations of personal memory and public history are simultaneously astral and deeply grounded, while opening a dialogue about how we relate to a demystified world.
Utilizing a wide array of materials, fusing sculpture, architecture, installation and relational art, Whyte’s work serves as an example of how we can rebuild our personal and communal environments into something greater than the sum of their parts by using what we already have available. They are not necessarily meant to offer definitive answers, but rather to open the mind to wonder, to dream.
Born and raised in metro Detroit and now based in Hamtramck, MI, Whyte is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the arts venue Popps Packing, and teaches at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and has received several awards for his work.