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Jun 16

Friendship

Friendship

Presented by Salt Lake City Public Library at Salt Lake City Public Library Main Branch

Artwork by Bryton Elias with photographic documentation by Kristina Lenzi o Exhibit runs from June 13th – August 6th 2022

ARTIST STATEMENT:

We have been friends for about five years now. Our relationship began as art mentor and student. We spent four days a week together during the summer of 2021. Most of that time was spent in the studio, with both of us doing art. Kristina mainly painted and took photographs of Bryton drawing. Bryton drew literally thousands of pieces; some large and some on printer paper.

We provide artistic comfort for one another. Kristina praises and photographs Bryton at work, and Bryton keeps Kristina working due to his extreme work ethic.

The thing that is so special about our friendship is that we have worked out ways to have conversations with each other in the studio. As an educator, communication is very important to Kristina. Bryton yearns for communication and is able to access conversational communication through art and connection with a mentor. Bryton is a person with severe non-conversational autism. Kristina is a person wanting to understand Bryton.

Bryton’s drawings are inevitably repetitious shapes. He has a love of triangles and will draw thousands of them on 48″ X 48″ pieces of foam core with a red Sharpie. He draws bevies of triangles.

Kristina has an absurd number of black and white photographs of Bryton working in the studio. Kristina considers them documentary photographs.

ARTIST BIO:

BRYTON ELIAS: Bryton is a graduate of Jordan High School and is currently attending Canyons Transition Academy, a trade school for young adults with special needs. Bryton is a person with severe non-conversational autism. Bryton Elias is an artist in the deepest sense and loves art more than any other activity.

Bryton Elias is an emerging Utah artist. He had a solo exhibition in July of 2021 at the Downtown Artist Collective. He was interviewed in early October of 2021 for an article in SLUG Magazine. Bryton is obsessed with having a show at the Salt Lake Public Library, as he enjoys the library very much.

KRISTINA LENZI: Kristina Lenzi is a multimedia and performance artist and curator. She has exhibited in the United States and Europe. Notable exhibitions include Mobius, Boston, Massachusetts; A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; Vertigo, Waterloo, Iowa; Chico Art Center, Chico, California; Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah; Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Salt Lake City, Utah; Miedzynarodowy Festiwal, Warsaw, Poland; and Infr’action International Festival, Sete, France. Lenzi is the recipient of the Tanne Foundation Award. Her work is included in the Permanent Salt Lake County Art Collection.

Lenzi curated Utah Sites: Performance Art for Video in Utah Landscapes, Utah Division of Arts and Museums Digital Show, consisting of 15 nationally based artists. She actively curates the yearly international Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival that she founded in 2013.

Lenzi holds a BFA in drawing and painting from the University of Utah and an MFA in interdisciplinary art from Tufts University in affiliation with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She teaches visual art at Weber State University. Lenzi lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Individual Dates & Times *

  • June 16, 2022 at 6:00 pm (Thu)

Location Info

Salt Lake City Public Library Main Branch
210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

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