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George Lorio “Dead Water” painted carved wood

George Lorio “Dead Water” painted carved wood

Some are permanent, others are periodic.  This occurrence of the loss of oxygen in the water is becoming more common and appears across the planet. The source is thought to be a result of agricultural runoff and industrial pollution. Divergent political views of governance motivated by money.

Artist Statement:

I use a narrative of social engagement to generate discussion. My images subtly arouse concern with visual prods into issues related to class, immigration, gun control, and ecology. 

I was born and raised, through my teenaged years, in New Orleans. It framed my vision of life. It was and continues to be a place of extremes: beauty and decay, religion and ritual, custom and iconoclasm. From that experience, I acquired an excitement for visual matters: colors, forms and even artifacts. 

At the time of the “9/11” bombing of the Twin Towers, NYC, my sojourn as a professor at the University of Texas in Brownsville on the Mexican border expanded my vision. As an artist, I was carving elegant sculptures that ruminated on the cycles of nature. This transcendent vision of my life experience seemed somewhat narcissistic given the ambient drug wars, the desperation of immigrants, and the collapsing Mexican democracy due to endemic political corruption. Viewing these current issues and seeing the curious lack of commitment for dialogue to offer solutions for the growing racial division, wealth inequality, and environmental decline in my own nation, I changed my insular focus of my art. I began to use found materials with which I developed a series of sculptures that poignantly comment on contemporary concerns in the guise of ironic constructions of found materials. Collage and assemblage synthesize the imagery. 

Skills

Posted on

September 24, 2018

Skills

Posted on

September 24, 2018