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ARTIST STATEMENT
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My
work is informed by a concern with memory and identity.
It explores the difficulty to integrate fundamental
human experiences, such as birth, death, separation,
loss of a child or parent, as well as the social and
political challenges of the epoch we inhabit: totalitarianism,
which I experienced first hand in pre-1989 Romania,
and - an immigrant myself - dislocation. I combine
autobiography and sociopolitical commentary in an
effort to show that art can offer the critical humanist
perspective necessary to this historical moment, to
reveal how the fragility of one individual is mirrored
by the fragility of another, beyond cultural or social
boundaries. Experience is refined to its most powerful
effects, which become visual metaphors for meaning,
inscribed onto the synthetically and symbolically
represented human figure.
This figure is central to the sculptural cycle entitled
The Inevitability of Becoming, conceptualized and
built between 1997 and 2002. Birth, death, difficult
departures are inscribed as irresolvable tensions
between the simultaneous desire for separation and
the longing for (re)unification, played on the visual
instability of the body. A second series of sculptures,
realized between 2002 and 2008, is entitled Meet Me
Whole. It explores the pressures of dislocation and
political repression on mind and spirit, and the individual's
continual effort to prevent disintegration. The narrativity
and constructivity associated with the first cycle,
corresponding to the formative interval that leads
to maturity, has been replaced by a focus on resistance,
understanding, and the creation of strategies of stabilization.
I
use stoneware and metal, suggestive of the fragile
balance between transformation and stability that
is so important to my artistic message. The versatility
of ceramics enables me to create both rough and subtly
textured surfaces that embody the fragility and nuance
of human emotion. The metal defines enclosure and
provides links, it is both repressive and stabilizing.
The ceramics is handbuilt and high-fired, or multiply
glazed and successively low-fired. Firing the metal
together with the stoneware allows me to obtain the
desired finishes through natural means, in accordance
with my artistic philosophy, and to create a coherent
aesthetics for each piece.
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students
from Springfield High School Sculpture about TURIA's
art:
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 14, 2008
READ
THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT GEORGE DRAGOMIR TURIA
George
Dragomir Turia was born and trained as an artist in
Romania and he currently resides in Toronto. His artistic
efforts strive to express the subtle relationship between
material and spiritual through art. After working for
years 3-dimensionally with clay, he felt challenged
to take his vision of the dual nature of the human being
and express it paint on canvas and wood. In Turia's
artwork, the continuous dynamics of the inner self determines
the spiritual evolution of the human being. His characters
have lost their exterior identification marks and features
as the subtle, invisible world of inner experiences
becomes more prevalent. The human shape is reduced to
its basic characteristics so that the inner self becomes
the focus. Central to Turia's are the issues and experiences
of human beings: the struggle to preserve the inner
child, love, harmony, misfits, traumas and misunderstandings.
The warm tones of his three dimensional artwork link
the figures to the earth while his paintings demonstrate
a broader use of color to evoke an emotional response
in the viewer. Adapted from http://turia.ca/index.html
Prompt
1:
"
Read George Dragomir Turia's artistic statement: My
interest lies in man's spiritual evolution. The human
shape is refined and reduced to its basic characteristics;
it has become a simple framework, the space of manifestation
of the self. Diverse experiences, from the struggle
to preserve the inner child to integrating and mastering
the major experiences of every age - love, harmony and
deep understanding, misfits and misunderstandings, troubles
and traumas - become central in my works, organize the
memory discourse, and construct identity. " Look at
his artwork. " Choose one piece of Turia's artwork and
describe how the artwork reflects his views. " Minimum
of 5 sentences, please!
Prompt
2:
"
Read Turia's artistic statement (above) and look at
his artwork. " Choose 5 pieces of his artwork and give
new titles to his artwork based on what you see and
what you have read.
Prompt
3
" Turia works in both painting/drawing and clay. His
artwork has evolved over the years. " Look at both his
paintings/drawings (http://turia.ca/painting.html )
and his ceramic sculpture (http://turia.ca/ceramic.html
). " Compare and contrast his work. " What are the similarities
between the two media he uses? " What are the differences?
Prompt 4:
" Look at Turia's artwork and compare it with the artwork
of Suzy Birstein (http://www.suzybirstein.com/sculpture.html
). " Both artists are interested in the symbolic use
of color and using the human form/face to convey their
thoughts about the human condition. As Birstein says
on her website, she hopes to, "reveal and provoke the
essence of their character and spirit." Turia strives
to do the same thing; with radically different results.
" How has each artist used color to "reveal and provoke
the essence" of the figures they have sculpted? " How
does the artist's choice of colors help to convey what
the artist is trying to communicate to the viewer? "
Which type of color use/sculpture do you prefer? Why?
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| ..."In
Turia's paintings and ceramics, he shows the inner human
feelings in some form. For example, in "Curtain and Truth,"
Turia is probably showing that although humans tend to
show one of their characteristics, there are more feelings
inside, which is hidden to the others with a curtain.
In his ceramics work,"Her Thoughts III," he is probably
showing that there are different parts to a human mind.
Only one is obvious to others, while the other thoughts
are just inside each human. Although they both show human
minds, they have a different approach in portraying the
different feelings. The ceramics works tend to show the
human feeling straight out, while in the paintings, you
have to carefully look at each part to understand what's
going on. For example, in "The Mirror," I see one person
stading in the middle with two reflections on either side
of that person; one is showing the dark side of the human
while the other shows the better and brighter side. You
had to look carefully to see those 3 people and what they
actually represent. On the other hand, the ceramics seemed
easier to comprehend. For example, in "My Pain and My
Strengh" it was easy to see that the strengh part of the
name was represented by the strong small bars on its head;
the pain part was shown with the sad face on the artwork.
Thus, although Turia's paintings and ceramics had some
similariities in portraying human feelings, they also
had major differences in the way it chose to display those
feelings."... |
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..."I
chose "Her thoughts II" to reflect Turias thoughts.
I chose this piece of artwork because he believes in
evolution and to me this shows evolution. I think it
symbolizes evolution because it reminds me of a ladder
and it shows how man has pulled themselves up to get
to where they are today. You do not see where the steps
end because we will keep improving ourselves. Also it
shows the struggle it is to get better and leave our
imperfections behind us. Man is trying to make ourselves
perfect. But the image of perfect to many is all people
being alike. I think of perfect as everyone being individual
and different. Everyone is happy and no fighting or
hunger."...
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..."I
chose Building Memory because I think this piece of
artwork shows a lot about Turia's childhood and some
of the memories that should me forgotten. I think this
sculpture shows his views on society and towards freedom.
When I look at this work of art I see someone attached
to chains walking on a journey. I think the journey
is Turia's life and that is what influences him to create
such remarkable sculptures. Another thing I se when
I look at this sculpture is someone trying to escape
from a life that is not worth living. Maybe George Turia
had a very tough life growing up or maybe he is going
through one now."...
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..."The
piece, My Pain, My Strength, reflects his views on human
emotions. This to me, shows how she is trying to display
the misfits of life. Inside the head are what looks
like staples or nails. In the art piece, the simplified
head of the human shows that his/her pains are his/her
strengths. It also shows a deep understanding of lessons
learned in life such as our pains are usually turn into
our strengths or make us stronger."...
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..."
Turia's sculptures and paintings differ in many ways
and are alike in many. In his sculptures, the main subject
is usually singular or plural based around one theme
(adam and eve). Through his sculptures, his themes come
out more life-like because of its three dimensional
characteristics. His paintings, on the other hand, are
two dimensional so they only go so far in getting the
point across. The paintings also focus on many characters
and objects around a few themes as opposed to the sculptures
that are focused on one main thing. The similarities
are that they both reflect his views very well. His
simplistic views on complex life themes are displayed
in both. Also, by having two media: paintings and sculptures,
he can appeal to a variety of people. Those who like
paintings can view his artwork as well as those who
like sculptures."...
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..."
The sculpture I choose was Building Memory I think this
reflects his views. I think this because it looks like
it is spiritual because there is only a head with no
body. I also think this because the face is sculptured
only the basics of its face such as the nose and the
eyes. Another example of his sculpture that is shown
threw his statement is trouble. I think this because
the sculpture shows how somebody is being locked up."...
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..."The
sculpture "Promise of Redemption" shows his views in
many ways. I think he doesn't put eyes, mouths, etc.
to focus on the inner self instead of features. It shows
a head with a blind fold. I think this means to blind
yourself from unimportant things and find your inner
self. It could also mean "a promise to change" because
i think redemption means to change."...
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..."
Both - sculptures and paintings - of his artworks can be compared
with the idea that they both look like they are from ancient
times. Another way they are alike is that they both have some
type of face involved in the piece of work. Not only are they
alike but they have differences too. One difference is that
in his ceramics sculpture, they are objects coming out of
each piece where as in the drawing work there isn't. Another
difference is in his artwork he uses more variety of colors,
like blue, red, yellow etc and in ceramics work he only really
uses colors like bronzes, tan etc."...
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