Influential artist Paul Sacaridiz Artists #2

1.            The artist’s background (personal, artistic, and social contexts)

Paul Sacaridiz (b.1970, Brooklyn, NY, lives and works in Madison, WI) received an MFA (1998) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BFA from Alfred University (1993).

Here is a website to his biography

http://www.art.wisc.edu/art/people/faculty-staff/ceramics-glass-metals-sculpture-wood-faculty/paul-sacaridiz

2.            The big idea and key concepts (what is the work about?)

Paul Sacaridiz’s work has a lot to do with the construction of fictitious modeled cites. The focus is to create a sence of time and place

3.            Boundaries (Media, subject matter, visual form, techniques)

He is a ceramic artist so he uses mostly porcelain and wood. The visual form is magical. It is very abstract but there are just enough objects in his work so that its not overwhelming. Also the objects are set up very strategically to make the viewers eyes play with the piece.

4.            The key artwork(s) (include title, year, medium, and insert links if needed)

This piece is calles Sprawl, 2008, cast and extruded ceramics wood, and plastic.

5.            The artist’s artmaking practices

•                    Knowledge (how does the artist acquire knowledge?)

He acquires knowledge by experimenting with abstraction and trying to portray his idea to his viewers.

•                    Artmaking problem (how to investigate and express the idea?) 
o Technical strategies (i.e., limit color choices or only use secondary colors)
o Conceptual strategies (i.e., play as a conceptual strategy for experimenting, pretending, 
and risk taking)

Paul uses a lot of strategies in limitimg color shape and size of his works. I think he portrays his concept of community very well. It is almost like his pieces are functional in an abstract way because when viewing his work it draws you in and makes your eyes travel along his piece and emphasizes areas where he wants your eyes to rest.