After the unique experience of being a US Army paratrooper, Sean Hovendick completed a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Production and Art/Computer Animation at Eastern New Mexico University. An internship at a major video post-production facility led to a full time Art Director position in which Sean designed and produced a wide range of projects including motion graphics and 3D animation for television advertising, interactive CD-Rom presentations and web sites. In 1998, Sean founded a successful design studio which continues to provide graphic design, video, multimedia, motion graphics and web design services for small businesses, nonprofit organizations and independent artists alike.

With an MFA in Computer Art from the Department of Transmedia at Syracuse University, Sean is a new media artist and Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Sage College. Hovendick's interactive, procedural and time-based works explore the hidden forces of power, identity and social order within the mediated psyche. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally at NYC Scope Art Fair, George Mason University, Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD; Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Sound Alt Space for Contemporary Art in Laredo, TX; the Bancroft Gallery in Cohasset, MA and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago Chile. Most recently, Sean’s work has been included in exhibitions at Gallery Aferro in Newark, NJ; the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica, NY; the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery in Philadelphia; the Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC; the traveling exhibition Experiencing the War in Iraq in Pawtucket, RI and Fall River, MA; FutureSonic: International Festival of Art, Music & Ideas in Manchester, UK and Festival Miden 2009 in Kalamata, Greece.

Sean also works in collaboration with John Wesley Mannion under the name AREA.

I am very curious as to what makes men act the way they do. My own mannerisms and ideology seem to clash with particular identities of men both portrayed in the media and in society alike. Often I find myself critically analyzing the identity of males while at other times I feel myself conforming to a stereotype to simply fit in. I seem to be in a constant state of flux—on an endless journey searching for who I am—tormented by the oddity of the mediated persona. I attribute this contradictory existence with my lack of a father figure and the consequences of using mass media as a surrogate parent.

In general, my work is a critical assessment of media’s omnipresence and the effects of its power to influence our society. In particular, it reflects the alienation of the male identity in regards to behavior learned from mediated reality. I draw inspiration from the way in which mass media is used for entertainment, information and social connectedness and the unconscious issues that arise with such dependence. These issues of persuasive media and the effects of mediated reality are the driving forces of my life and work—both of which concerned with the impalpable human identity evident in our stereotypically based culture.