Colin Pezzano
My inspiration stems from personal childhood experience, shifting interchangeably from my own memories to children's cartoons of the mid 90's. As I get older I watch and re-watch these cartoon series, recognizing the techniques the artists use by distorting a series of lines to create a recognizable image. A drawn image relates to a sort of reality. This idea extends into the real world as we have conversations with our pets, refer to our cars as “my baby,” and give our furniture arms and legs.
I build furniture that evokes humor and pathos based on the narrative of memory. My focus is on the introspective, emotional conflict within. By abstracting the fundamental furniture forms the viewer experiences a sense of “jamais vu,” where the familiar is unfamiliar, which allows me to communicate ideas in the familiar language of domestic function.
By anthropomorphizing furniture forms, I find that I can suggest human qualities and relationships. These forms evoke the communication of memory and the passage of time. As the physical object emerges, I am able to mull over and direct its narrative. I find the process of creation to be like a meditation – as in becoming immersed in the experience and resolving what each work communicates. I think of material as memory and process as the passage of time. By relying on reductive processes to create these forms, carving and shaping of material connects my actions and memories to the traditions of my predecessors.
I develop these ideas by imbuing furniture forms with potential movement and personality, each becoming a new member of the family interaction and dynamic.