As an artist, Wubbena fluctuates between interdisciplinary ways of working, focusing on mixed-media sculptural compositions, multi-media installations, large-scale public sculptures and filmmaking. Such fluctuation allows for a wide range of expressive capabilities, stretching from the creation of lasting monumental sculptures to transitory moments. The reference of historical and geologic documentation is often apparent in his work, whether through sedimentary layering represented in sculptural form, the accumulation and erosion of text and imagery across surfaces, or the melding of seemingly disparate conglomerate materials and objects.
Currently, his work focuses on what we, as individuals, carry. Like historic Caryatids or Atlases holding up architectural and cultural structures, we assume the weight of our past, present, and future. Our bodies and lives become an admix of accumulated experiences, sights, sounds, textures, stories, and thoughts, all at times simplistically beautiful and at times cacophonously overwhelming. Each artwork exists in a state of perpetual action and reaction as their bodies construct, erode, and twist under their own burdens. They ask how much is enough, question their own carrying capacities, while gracefully wandering and precariously living in the midst of things.
Chris Wubbena holds an MFA in Art with a Sculpture Emphasis from San Francisco State University, and a BFA in Art with a Sculpture Emphasis and a Creative Writing Minor from the University of Northern Iowa. His artwork and short films have been exhibited and screened in exhibitions and film festivals throughout the United States, including The Chicago Sculpture Exhibit, Chicago, IL; Joy, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Ephemerality, Strata Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Mixtape, ShockBoxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA; Doomscapes, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL; The Conversation, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; The Bright Side, Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Sloss Sculpture Garden, Birmingham, AL; 3-Dimensional, Art Scene West, San Diego, CA; WVU Sculpture Tour, Morgantown, WV; and Mania, Covet Gallery, Oceanside, CA. His solo exhibitions include the Armory Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO; the Louise Hopkins Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX; the Windgate Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR; the Surplus Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL; The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO; the Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA; the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art, Hattiesburg, MS; and the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, IA. Wubbena has also completed a number of commissioned projects. The public sculpture titled Spirit of Now, commissioned for the American House in Oak Park, IL was completed in 2022; and the public sculpture titled Forward, commissioned by Mississippi Power Company, in Gulfport, Mississippi was completed in 2007 to commemorate the work done by Mississippi Power employees during and after the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Wubbena most recently curated an exhibition at the Chicago Sculpture International Project Space, titled Sculpture & Film, an exhibition exploring the relationship between sculptural form and cinematic expression. He is currently a tenured Full Professor of Sculpture at Southeast Missouri State University.
about
As an artist, Wubbena fluctuates between interdisciplinary ways of working, focusing on mixed-media sculptural compositions, multi-media installations, large-scale public sculptures and filmmaking. Such fluctuation allows for a wide range of expressive capabilities, stretching from the creation of lasting monumental sculptures to transitory moments. The reference of historical and geologic documentation is often apparent in his work, whether through sedimentary layering represented in sculptural form, the accumulation and erosion of text and imagery across surfaces, or the melding of seemingly disparate conglomerate materials and objects.
Currently, his work focuses on what we, as individuals, carry. Like historic Caryatids or Atlases holding up architectural and cultural structures, we assume the weight of our past, present, and future. Our bodies and lives become an admix of accumulated experiences, sights, sounds, textures, stories, and thoughts, all at times simplistically beautiful and at times cacophonously overwhelming. Each artwork exists in a state of perpetual action and reaction as their bodies construct, erode, and twist under their own burdens. They ask how much is enough, question their own carrying capacities, while gracefully wandering and precariously living in the midst of things.
Chris Wubbena holds an MFA in Art with a Sculpture Emphasis from San Francisco State University, and a BFA in Art with a Sculpture Emphasis and a Creative Writing Minor from the University of Northern Iowa. His artwork and short films have been exhibited and screened in exhibitions and film festivals throughout the United States, including The Chicago Sculpture Exhibit, Chicago, IL; Joy, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Ephemerality, Strata Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Mixtape, ShockBoxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA; Doomscapes, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL; The Conversation, Art St. Louis, St. Louis, MO; The Bright Side, Jen Tough Gallery, Santa Fe, NM; Sloss Sculpture Garden, Birmingham, AL; 3-Dimensional, Art Scene West, San Diego, CA; WVU Sculpture Tour, Morgantown, WV; and Mania, Covet Gallery, Oceanside, CA. His solo exhibitions include the Armory Gallery, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA; the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, St. Louis, MO; the Louise Hopkins Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX; the Windgate Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR; the Surplus Gallery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL; The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO; the Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA; the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art, Hattiesburg, MS; and the Waterloo Center for the Arts, Waterloo, IA. Wubbena has also completed a number of commissioned projects. The public sculpture titled Spirit of Now, commissioned for the American House in Oak Park, IL was completed in 2022; and the public sculpture titled Forward, commissioned by Mississippi Power Company, in Gulfport, Mississippi was completed in 2007 to commemorate the work done by Mississippi Power employees during and after the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina. Wubbena most recently curated an exhibition at the Chicago Sculpture International Project Space, titled Sculpture & Film, an exhibition exploring the relationship between sculptural form and cinematic expression. He is currently a tenured Full Professor of Sculpture at Southeast Missouri State University.