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RICHARD SUAREZ Richard Suarez was born in New York and attended
Syracuse University in New York where he received a Bachelor of Industrial
Design. He then went on to study sculpture at Wayne State University, Detroit in
the mid 1960s. Since locating to the Okanagan Valley in the mid 1970s Richard
Suarez has been active as an artist and professor of sculpture in the Fine Arts
department of Okanagan University College. Never forgoing his initial interest and training in
design, Suarez is known for his thoughtful and engaging assemblages created out
of both personal mementoes and ordinary found objects. Suarez’s icon-like
constructions, produced since the mid 1990s, give new life to abandoned kitchen
utensils and miscellaneous discarded debris. An avid collector, Suarez is
attracted to these objects for their metallic quality as well as for the variety
of shapes, styles and textures. It is only after contemplating these items for
an indeterminate period of time that Suarez is able to successfully combine the
disparate parts into a new whole that invites the viewer to take a closer look,
to contemplate and to appreciate the assemblage’s formal, functional and
ironic qualities. Suarez’s Lunch Hour Drawings were produced on
a familiar contemporary found object – a Styrofoam take out container –
which the artist then digitally photographed and enlarged. Discouraged by the waste of our disposable world Suarez was
inspired one lunch hour to recycle and sat down to “doodle” on the
container’s clean, white surface. Without a preconceived image in mind, Suarez
lets his random marks determine the direction of the drawing. Over the years
Suarez has produced dozens of such drawings which have brought him some
attention at certain local college cafeterias. Free Lunch is Richard Suarez’s first solo exhibition at the Kelowna Art Gallery. In both the drawings and assemblages, the artist transforms the otherwise forgotten and discarded into something new that requires another look. Images from the exhibition
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Copyright © 1999 - 2005 KELOWNA ART GALLERY
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