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artist: home:contact: website: | sergio g. villamizar north bergen, new jerseysgv1965@hotmail.comwww.faculty.njcu.edu/Villamizar/ |
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"Saint Petrol" $400
Woodcut 16"x 24"
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"Saint Maya" $400
Woodcut 16" x 24"
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"Saint Ichthus" $400
Woodcut 16" x 24"
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Artist Statement
The Saint Series is a critical examination of political and cultural righteousness in contemporary America. The works were created by co-opting traditional, Western-European woodcutting techniques used for relief printing of Medieval and Byzantine religious tableaus to create pastiches of what the artist’s calls “Saints.” Each image combines strategically chosen socio-political iconography with historical and contemporary pop-culture imagery to fabricate a new patron saint of various, different American values. Each “Saint”, surrounded by those symbols, affects, and trappings that they embody, puts into question the virtues placed on the aspect of American culture they represent.
All the works in the Saint Series started becaused I was “Fired Up” about something I had witnessed or read about and felt compelled to speak up through my art work. The winning image Saint Morphea illustrates the modern mania for self improvement and formulates the following questions: will the persuit of perfection speed up our evolution, or will it cause the de-evolution of humanity? Will it lead to varieties of posthumanity or the death of diversity?
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ArtSceneToday Q&A
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Q: Where do you see yourself in the art scene today?
A: I see myself as an up and coming Neo-Conceptual artist who is influenced by current events, dreams, literature and philosophy.
Q: What’s your inspiration?
A: My ideas come from the environment that surrounds me, posters, bill boards, magazines, television, the internet, books, etc. Saint Morphea is my reaction to reality shows such as “the Swan”, “I Want to have a Famous Face”, “Doctor 90210”, fashion magazines, bill boards and other forms of advertisement.
Q: What are your biggest challenges?
A: My number one challenge right now is time! I have two jobs and a two and a half year old daughter and finding the time to do art is becoming more of a challenge.
Q: How did you choose your medium?
A: For the Saint Series I thought it was appropriate to use a medium that was used in Medieval and Byzantine times to portrait saints.
Q: Which atist has influenced you the most?
A: For my latest work I spent a lot of time looking at the works of Master Print Makers particularly at the work of Albrecht Duerer.