Today we’d like to introduce you to Jorge Blanco.
Jorge, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in home where there was practically no art to speak of, my first contact with art was when I was twelve years old while visiting my best friend’s home, his parents were important art collectors, I was very impressed with Auguste Herbin’s work, it inspired me to draw, it was like a light went on in my brain. After high school I applied for and won a scholarship to the prestigious Neumann Institute of Design, in Caracas, where I graduated with a degree in Industrial Design, but my teachers were career fine artists, two were sculptors Gego and Zitman, they were a major influence. Once I graduated I began creating sculpture and at the same time I founded a design firm with an architect. I also lived and studied in Rome, there I continued sculpting, exhibiting my sculptures and working as an illustrator and graphic designer too.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
In the early 70s the dire political situation in some South American countries, terrible dictatorships such as Chile and Argentina’s, at the same time while I was living in Italy it was in turmoil, the Red Brigade committing acts of terrorism, the news stories of violence and torture inspired my work, it was very dark and intense, my materials were very raw, bronze, elastic fabric and wood. In the late 70s many events changed my outlook, I began looking at the joyful side of life and began a new path, working in aluminum, using bright glossy colors, a sort of geometric minimalism, an evolution into what I do now. In most of my sculptures you can see a face or a figure, which is recognizable even though I love to do abstract sculpture. My goal is to reach hundreds of thousands of people through public-art, I want to share the joy of my art.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
To be authentic and true to themselves.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have more than 24 sculptures in public places in United States, others in Tokyo and Caracas.
My sculptures are exhibited at art fairs and galleries, for example I’m having a solo show at Alfstad& Contemporary Art Gallery in Sarasota, Florida, opening this April. In Miami I’ve shown at O. Ascanio Gallery and others. I have been lucky to have the support of international art experts such as Oscar Ascanio and also of gallery owners and dealers that show my work at the major art fairs and at their galleries in the USA and Europe. My website is a good window to see a selection of my work.
The best support is to know what viewers feel when they see my work and of course it is wonderful when people buy my pieces. There are collectors who have nine or more of my sculptures in their collections.
Contact Info:
- Website: jorgeblancosculpture.com
- Phone: 941 927-1010
- Email: studio@jorgeblancosculpture.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jorgeblancosculpture/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JorgeBlanco.Sculptor/
Image Credit:
Elena Hernandez-Ron
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