Biography
Bryan Christiansen is a South Dakota native who received a Bachelor in Fine Art from the University of Nevada, Reno with a minor in Philosophy in 2009. He has exhibited throughout the US. His most recent solo exhibition Woodshock is currently on view at the Dahl Fine Arts Center in Rapid City, SD.
Christiansen’s sculpture expands on themes of hunting and nature. His work is a collection of free standing and wall-mounted sculpture that pursue the points of intersection between humans, their environments and their relationship to nature. Using hunting as an ideological point of departure, Christiansen hunts and gathers materials found in and around the cities he’s lived in to create life- and larger-than-life sized animals, skulls, and reliquaries in homage to the secret lives we live in our homes. Through a ritualistic process of gathering, deconstructing, and assembling the works transform forgotten objects in alleyways into prized mementos.
Christiansen has been the recipient of several honors including the Sierra Arts Endowment Grant and The Nevada Museum of Arts’ Emerging Artist Honorarium. Other honors include “Best in Show” from The San Jose Museum of Arts, Kristen Evangelista and a faculty nomination for the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.