Sebastian Bruno-Harris (b. Puerto Rico, 1991) is a visual artist who makes mixed-media sculptures and assemblages out of everyday objects and materials. At the core of his practice is a desire to harness the feeling you get when you look at something ordinary and it strikes you as new and strange. In pursuing that desire Sebastian make assemblages using materials such as plants, found objects, photographs, videos, and miniatures to create abstract, whimsical scenes. Interested in the potential stored in everyday things as a network of transfers and relays, he works with objects and images that resonate with each other at different speeds, scales, amplitudes, distances, and durations, giving the ordinary the charge of an unfolding. Sebastian aims to make work that helps ground people into appreciating their surroundings by providing methods for noticing and contemplating the endless, kaleidoscopic ways in which things are connected – be they objects, thoughts, feelings, impressions, or dreams. 

Born in Puerto Rico and raised between Buenos Aires and South Florida, Sebastian studied sculpture at Florida Atlantic University earning his BFA in 2016 and then his MFA in 2023 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Film, Video, New Media, and Animation department. Sebastian’s work has been exhibited nationally at Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, Lake Worth, FL; Fritz Gallery, West Palm Beach; Leidy Gallery at Fred Lazarus IV Center, Baltimore; Chicago Art Department, Chicago; Co-Prosperity, Chicago; and Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Sebastian was a year-long artist-in-residence at Chicago Art Department from 2020 to 2021. He is currently based in Chicago.

Image: Sebastian Bruno-Harris, Station Continuum, 2023, Mixed-media installation with photos and videos, 8’ x 12’ x 5’, Image credit: Jonas Mikosh

Headshot: Maria Burundarena