Sean Moyer: Persistence/Focus/Matter

Drawing on Modernist themes and their effects on culture, architecture, urban growth, and art history, Moyer’s Persistence/Focus/Matter explores his role as an art maker who happens to make his living working in the service industry.

With the rapid expansion of cities in Post-War America and their promises of employment, there arose the need for businesses that were predicated on providing a service and interacting with the public, as opposed to simply producing goods.  At the same time, artists began experimenting with non-traditional materials and techniques in an effort to explore the personal and social aspects of American society, rather than continuing in their attempts to realistically represent the world around them.

As a primary actor in this service economy, Moyer has firsthand experience with navigating the architectural growth of Salt Lake and its population’s desire for convenience. These encounters become the material through which Moyer examines the repetitive and the performative, the banal and the mundane, and the human relationship with the urban landscape—as it has been transformed by the service industry.