Rustalgia

Rustalgia: MFA Thesis Exhibition by Tyler Casamassa

April 1st - April 5th, 2019

This body of work is a combination of sculpture and printmaking.  Together they represent the hopeful childhood dreams of work up against the realities of hard labor and loss.

“As children, we play and dream with hopeful ambition of what we want to do when we grow up. As years pass, toys are replaced with tools, imagination with perspiration, and our dreams confront the realities of our working lives. Through found-object sculpture and printmaking, I explore this dynamic relationship between work and play.

Having family roots in the steelmaking industry, I see rust as a symbol of ephemerality, of hard work and time passed. I combine rust with childlike materials and processes, giving place to play and imagination as a way of coping with the realities of labor and loss. “