Brent Houzenga
is New Orleans-based painter and musician originally from Fulton, IL. Houzenga earned his B.A. in printmaking from Western Illinois University and his MFA at the University of New Orleans in 2017. Houzenga’s art has graced the walls of galleries across the country and globe. His show “Fire Department” at the Dubuque Museum of Art in Dubuque, Iowa, was exhibited beside one of America’s most treasured artists, Grant Wood. In 2012 he was commissioned to paint a portrait for Matthew McConaughey’s personal collection. Houzenga’s work has been featured in publications such as Time Out Chicago, Art and Art Galleries of the South, Art+Design New Orleans, as well as the Rizzoli book Stickers: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art. In 2021 his work appeared on the cover of Primordial, a comic published by Image comics. He is the subject of the independent documentary film Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer.
Artist Statement
“Sometimes I wonder how I got to now. It’s fun to look back at all the little instances that might have changed my life, the little building blocks that brought me to where I am. I remember all those movements but somehow it still doesn’t feel like it was me making them. I have other memories too, from different times. Different lives. Different lives at different times is one thing. But is it possible that I went there in this body and came back with the memory intact and a souvenir to prove it? Modern science says no. Theoretically I would have to have been traveling inside some sort of craft at the speed of light to make anything happen. The other known possibility of actual time travel involves a wormhole. Do we know where these appear though? No one can say for sure the actual nature of the universe. We’re learning but I think in all actuality the universe will probably avoid the ones who want to know and shed a little light on the blessed.”