James Rizzi

Born in 1975, U.S.A.

Education

1997 Graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York, focused mainly on graphic design.

Solo Exhibitions

2003 JM Rizzi, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY, June 1 - Sept. 1, 2003


Group Exhibitions

2004 Vlepo Gallery, Staten Island, NY, May 8 - 30, 2004
The Hunting Gallery, New York, NY, April 24 - May 30 2004
New York Mercantile Exchange, New York, NY, February 2 - March 2, 2004

2001 Whatever, Artists Space, New York, NY, Nov. 15, 2001
Patch 155, New York, NY, Sept. 22 - Dec. 20, 2001
Core Gallery , New Paltz, NY, July 5 - August 10, 2001

1996 A Conversation, The Art Director's Club, April 19, 1996

Statement
"As a Brooklyn native, I am inspired by the flux of the city: memories and photographs of painted elevated trains, illumin(at)ed windows in nocturnal cityscapes, broken glass shimmering in dull sidewalks, and the panoply of cultural pluralism, increasing by the day, even in a city already as diverse as New York. The process I use in my most recent work is an attempt to mimic this. I collage the initial surface or leave it clean, and then paint projected drawings over it. This layering technique results in an interplay of tangled, swooping, and jutting lines, which coalesce into unexpected shapes, emerging as vivid fields of color. Ultimately these images are informed by urban iconography, but they also contain a more personal narrative. Much time is spent filling pages with autonomous ink drawings, rendered and defined, before projection. The viewer is presented with a dichotomy, as, despite its condensed and chaotic appearance, the work strikes the eye as both simple and open. The projections abstract the original surface image, the process creates a nocturnal environment, leading me beyond the physicality of the urban landscape."