Showing in the Gallery of the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts
Steven Kuypers & Tyson Skross

Reception:  September 16, 2010
Exhibit:  August 26 - September 29, 2010

Steven Kuypers - Biography
Born in Detroit, Michigan, Steven Kuypers received his BFA from the College for Creative Studies (CCS), focusing on sculpture with a minor in crafts. He has worked as a Metal Shop and Foundry technician at CCS, as an Artist’s Assistant to Marsha Pels and Russell Thayer and founded Our Gallery Detroit. A non-profit gallery is a hub for community outreach and showcases emerging artists outside of the collegiate environment.

Kuypers works with metal, both casting and fabricating, along with wood, concrete, fiber, and found objects. His work focuses mostly on audience participation and interaction. He collaborates with each participant to complete the piece. Each piece changes with every new participant, leaving endless possibilities and fresh reads, even after multiple showings. While the objects themselves are compelling, Kuypers insists that they are merely tools to provoke interaction with the concept, fully realized once these spontaneous performances occur. “I strive to make work that requires an extroverted viewing approach. This requires the viewer to submit to the moment. As a participant they not only engage the work but the space and other people present.”

Artist Statement 
Technologically advanced societies today are absorbed by instant gratification. Today, art is often relegated to quick visual stimulus. It is thought of as separate from life; something to be understood internally in solidarity. Viewers are passive, looking at art as a form of entertainment. Art deserves more from the viewer, but inspiration comes from within. Good art should engage multiple senses, provoke emotions, inspire reflection and be experienced as a part of the moment. Art should provide a base for both internal and social growth.
 
My work allows me to teach while learning. It justifies my obsessions with the essential, innovative and creative solutions that make modern life possible. My work gives me a platform to make people take notice of the little things. I reinterpret the mundane moments, solutions, and social routines of everyday life into the spectacular. I strive to make work that requires an extroverted viewing approach. This requires the viewer to submit to the moment. As a participant they not only engage the work but the space and other people present.