Claudio Orso

artist statement

Art comes out of the need to say something through making. The working of the hands brings deliverance because it's a hero's journey with unpredictable outcomes: the material is our creative antagonist, sometimes spiteful, hard to ride, even cruel in exposing our momentary inadequacy. We learn from defeat, mostly; that is why we sleep on it and come back the next day to resume the siege, for one more dance, for ever.

I draw best with a blade, both on wood and clay. Carving a relief picture allows for an engaged counterpoint between what's taken out and the solidity of what's left untouched; inscribing motifs into greenware brings that searching enthusiasm to three dimensions, negotiating weight and space along with pattern. My prints are allegorical, illustrations for books not yet written; fascinating words or entire sentences participate in the composition, because a word formed in hard material and committed with ink to paper acquires weight, transcending conversational level to become a memento, a password waiting to be loudly restated, or proved wrong. Clay allows me kindly in the three-dimensional playground, while cardboard gives me the thrill of fast building with glue gun and stapler; my masks made from recycled cardboard give me agency to play with color, adding excitement to perform in front of people, challenging the shy introvert I thought I was.  

My works are allegorical narratives and billowing empty architectures dominated by furious subtractive incisions, following my instinct in tuning up the composition in the same way something you are cooking becomes "done".