Bio

Cullen Houser is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Cleveland, Ohio who works in printmaking, neon lights, and digital media. His works explore the interactivity of various materials that blur the line between analog and digital processes, furthering a complex and contentious relationship with media and technology. Houser received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Sonoma State University with an emphasis in printmaking in 2018. In 2023, Houser received his Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Artist Statement

The way in which technology and media shapes our perception of the world is the forefront of my artistic practice. The spew of online content I consume becomes transformed, recontextualized, and regurgitated into vignettes of possible futures. With a mixture of humor and apprehension, this worldbuilding process allows me to create characters and scenes through a lens of transhumanism, dystopia, and toxic masculinity. By delving into humanity’s relation with technology, my work is an examination of online communities, internet iconography, and meme culture. This relationship is further explored through materiality, where mixed media and a layering of multiple processes both obfuscates and exaggerates this tumultuous dynamic. The boundaries of these materials and mark-making are redefined through their interactivity, giving the work a sense of agency and life. As the lines separating technology from ourselves continue to blur, I question the notion of self and society in a post-internet world.