The Crusader CollectionRyan Hymas
Non Extant
218 W Main St, Santaquin, Utah, 84655, United States
2023-2025
As of Jan. 5, 2025, the city of Santaquin has shut down the Crusader Collection. Hymas’ work has been relocated to his and Chantelle Westover’s project REVE.
About the Artist/Site
The Crusader Collection, located in a historic 1870s home, is an ever-evolving art environment centered on themes of description and transformation. Ryan Hymas transforms the space using an additive process, creating a dynamic environment where “nothing is completed—everything has the chance of being painted over or added to.”
The art environment gains cohesion as individual pieces interact with one another, creating a holistic experience. Hymas’s periodic exhibitions, where he sells about 80% of his work, effectively reset the environment, allowing space for new creations. Documenting this ongoing evolution is critical, as documentation of the site becomes outdated with every iteration.
The third exhibition, occurring in June 2024, explored the idea of “a sad and beautiful world.” Through bold colors and textures, written phrases, and found objects, Hymas’ work walks visitors through various aspects of the world, while letting the art be personally interpreted by each viewer as they bring their own experiences to the work. This generates diverse and meaningful interpretations: “I’ve seen people laugh at the same piece that later that day I’ve seen someone cry about,” Hymas said. “I create what I create, but then people bring their own, you know, their own existence into the pieces… Every person that came to the exhibitions left me a piece of themselves and their love and I’m forever grateful.”
On January 5th, 2025, Hymas officially closed the Crusader Collection and released a statement on Santaquin’s opposition of the site:
The city of Santaquin has had enough they’ve said. Understandably. Can’t have this level of weirdness showcased right on Main Street for everyone to see. It’s ok though, I’ll straiten up and only use appropriate galleries from now on. Least that’s what I told em. In actuality I’m gonna hang a piece in every gas station restroom in the state. They’ll never catch me.
Despite the building itself being a contextual part of the Crusader Collection, Hymas persists. His and Chantelle Westover’s project REVE holds their current work, and they’re assembling an art show for spring of 2025.
Materials
Found objects, paint
Map & Site Information
218 W Main St
Santaquin, Utah, 84655
us
Latitude/Longitude: 39.9759271 / -111.7900435
Nearby Environments
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