Art Around Athens

We know it's a really busy week, but it would be a real shame to miss tonight's visiting artist lecture by Guerra de la Paz (Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz) at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at 5:30 p.m. Here's what the art school has to say about their work:

Guerra de la Paz is the composite name that represents the creative team efforts of Cuban born artists, Alain Guerra and Neraldo de la Paz. We began working as a collective in 1996 when we decided to share a studio in Miami’s Little Haiti. It has evolved into an ongoing collaboration that has grown by way of experimentation and constant dialog, combining two contrastive personalities to form a single entity with a visual language that conveys a universal message referencing the many different dimensions of the human experience; A cross-cultural look at dichotomies and parallels, mixing classicism with the general consensus of the day and iconic imagery with a complexity of identities.

We’re visually stimulated by our immediate surroundings. Our neighborhood has been the catalyst for much of our work - A paradox where gritty industrial warehouses cohabitate with lush tropical vegetation. Gentrified pockets juxtaposed by rustic areas adorned with hand painted murals and billboards that are quickly redesigned by nature. The ever-present evidence of erosion guarantees that nothing stays new for long and exposes a sense of impermanence that encourages our own bucolic approach, to collect and reuse discarded materials. Deemed obsolete - a testament to the passing of time and the realization of a modernity fading away – their roles are redefined when they become components in our compositions.

Our close proximity to the Pepe businesses that once thrived in Little Haiti has been a major source of inspiration. Gaining access to an overabundance of discarded clothing - relics that once helped define an individual’s personality and communally speak of environmental issues, mass consumption, and disposability – opened the doors for us to working with garments as a material. We often see ourselves as vehicles guided by their essence and silent histories.

Although it has been a great influence, by no means do we feel bound to what we amass from around our studio. And though repurposing the ready-made remains a dominant factor in our method, it is important to maintain our aesthetic and have found incorporating other materials to be inevitable. Weather new or old, handmade or manufactured, the main objective is to realize our concepts to the fullest. Deviating from our painting backgrounds, we apply this principle to our entire process and choose to not limit ourselves to any one style or technique, integrating a diverse range of work into a definitive shared vision.

Also, we'll be at the UGA Student Activities Fair today, starting at 11 a.m., in the Tate Center Grand Ballroom, helping promote our new/reinvigorated GMOA student group. There's a rumor of cookies, too.