Rock, Salt & Nails features twelve brand-new works by Kristopher Wright that capture memories of his life as a boy growing up in the American West. Backyard scuffles, church ceremonies, first hunting trips, landscapes, and motorbikes populate scenes that are general and specific. Though all of his works are based on something real - something experienced or remembered - the artist complicates the story by incorporating found photography which invites the exploration of new pathways of meaning.

Intertwining the disciplines of screen printing and painting, Wright takes influence from American Western iconography, machine diagrams, and personal mythos to investigate themes of family, growing up, masculinity, space, time, and spirit. The show’s title derives from a country song by Bruce Duncan “Utah” Phillips. Descriptions of nature abound in lyrics that speak to being at odds with the world, with memories, and with a woman. For Wright, the through thread is sizing up what it means to interact with the world through joy, hardship, community, naivete, and loss – which hopes are realized, which are thwarted, and how does one choose to move through each. “For me, the show is about youth, bridled energy, generational learning, and how what you see and experience in life eventually gets incorporated. It’s about searching, striving, and trying to find your mark whether hitting or, sometimes, missing it.” These themes surface subtly and are embodied by bows and arrows, hunting gear, notions of flight (jumping for basketballs, hawks, Air Force uniforms), along with other forms of competition. Young boys observe and try on grown-up behaviors and roles with misfires hopefully maturing into direct hits. Wright continues, “The stories that we tell each other as we grow up contain both our true and cloaked aims. They telegraph our values and what's important to us. I harness engine diagrams, color, liminal space, and storytelling to augment meaning around the moments that make us who we are - how we fall down, get back up, and experience grace." Doug Kacena, K Contemporary’s founder and curator comments, “Kristopher’s paintings speak to what we aim for in life metaphorically and literally. His new work pushes into psychological space as his forms flatten out space and time. The focus is on an overarching narrative vs. specific people as Wright explores the mythology of growing up, archetypes, and taking risks."  At a modest 33 years of age, Wright has already been shown at exhibitions and art fairs throughout the country, most notably, his debut solo exhibition Just as I Am at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in 2022, as well as group showings at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Sullivan Galleries, and Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.  His work is included in the permanent collection of the Denver Art Museum and the Art Bank in NE.