Meet Sebastian Bruno-Harris | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sebastian Bruno-Harris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sebastian, why did you pursue a creative career?
Art has been a great way to pursue and channel lots of different interests for me. As an artist, I have never really felt like I have run out of things I want to do or to learn about, and the path forward has never felt very linear either. One year I might be interested in learning about woodworking and mold-making processes, and maybe the next year I get into drawing and video. The thing I find cool too is that you always carry forward with you all of the skills, knowledge, and experiences that you’ve made, and through art, there is always a space to explore and find nuanced through-lines between compelling ideas, fields of knowledge, and experiences. Another thing I find pretty incredible is the kind of people you get to meet when you are an artist, which in my experience has often been people who are generous and kind with their time and attention, especially when those people are also artists too. I find it’s really a privilege when I get to step into other people’s studios, or when they come to mine and there is a lovely exchange of ideas and affinities for things. I think it’s a really wonderful part of doing what I do.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My practice has always been pretty intuitive and multidisciplinary and driven by a desire to harness the feeling you get when you look at something ordinary and it strikes you as new and strange. How I translate this drive into making things is that I often use materials such as plants, found objects, photographs, videos, and miniatures, along with different processes such as woodworking, mold-making, image transferring, collaging, and more, together to make sculptural assemblages of multimedia landscapes. The reason I work with all of these distinct materials and processes together is in order to bring attention to how various objects that form and shape our environments can be regarded in simultaneous, entangled conditions; as signifiers siphoning different functions, contexts, narratives, and meanings, and through which different places, states of mind, and preoccupations can link and consolidate into abstract, whimsical scenes. My interest in pursuing this method of working is to make speculative sculptural and two-dimensional models of ordinary affective encounters as ways of examining media forms, cultural framings, and meaning-making processes. What affective encounters mean to me are the ways in which modes of attention coalesce, whereby a continual motion of relations surges in the form of sensations, expectations, daydreams, and scenes from ordinary life. Through my works I highlight how our sense of attention and pacing, as well as our capacity for association-making, happen in relation to everyday objects, environments, and digital screens. My aim is to make work that helps ground people into appreciating their surroundings by providing methods for noticing and contemplating the endless, kaleidoscopic ways in which things are connected – be they objects, thoughts, feelings, impressions, or dreams.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Some places I always love coming back to and showing people in no particular order are: Gramps Bar and Lagniappe (which are both around Wynwood area), and Lost Weekend, Voltaire, and Respectable Street (which are all on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach). All of these places in my experience have a mix of great drinks, food, music, and dancing. To see art I like going to museums like PAMM, the Norton, or the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens. I also love going once in a while to Robert is Here Fruit Stand (on Ingraham Highway) which has amazing smoothies and fruits of all kinds. Lastly, the beach is always a good time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to all of my close friends and family, my partner with her endless patience and encouragement, and to all of my great teachers who taught me to look closely and think critically and who have supported me to get me to where I am today.

Website: sbrunoharris.com

Instagram: @sebasbru

Other: Vimeo: sebasbru