Paintings by Sam Forlenza, exhibiting alongside Mani Motiee · Exhibit runs from Jan 18 - Feb 28
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Art is a conversation or dialogue between the artist and the artwork, between the painter and the canvas, between the sculptor and the marble. The artist needs to be a keen listener. The artwork will direct the artist and the mark-making. Harold Rosenberg (1960) states that, “The canvas ‘[talks] back’ to the artist…to provoke the artist to a dramatic dialogue.”
The current collection is deeply personal and alludes to many aspects of my professional life during the past four plus decades in helping professions, as social worker, child custody mediator and clinical geropsychologist. For months, I have been focused on this body of work and have produced well over 200 drawings and paintings. Whether black on white, white on black, or employing intense color, the works reference themes of mortality, the celebration and fragility of life, created worlds and communities, class distinctions, family constellations, the passage of time, hollowed out shells of beings, alienation, loneliness and isolation, and religious iconography. Lost individuality and personhood, emotionless and faceless society, and social interactions and communications are also suggested, while always seeking to be aware of the emotional tone.
In my creative process I use black Sumei or India ink, French oil pastels, acrylic paints, French water soluble crayons, and markers. Ink is divided into three values - light, medium, and dark. Commonly, I begin one-third of the way down the page, then across the length of the paper. Being mindful of composition, I initially work toward figurative forms, noting emotive reactions to the line, color, and the texture produced by these variations. I observe their power to suggest sentiment, constantly “listening” to the work and attending to the conversation with these unexpected friends.
ARTIST BIO:
Born, raised and educated in Newark, NJ, Sam moved from northern New Jersey to Salt Lake City, Utah, in the summer of 2015. He is a visual artist, a book artist, and a retired clinical geropsychologist. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from Rutgers University, where he studied with Fluxus Artist, Al Hansen. Sam has pursued graduate work in studio art at Montclair State University (NJ), which has been supplemented by additional art studies at various cultural or educational institutions. At the University of Utah, Sam has completed the requirements for the Certificate in Book Arts.
He has exhibited at various NJ venues including the Newark Museum, and in New York State. His artist’s book, Three Windows, is part of a traveling show organized by the Idaho Center for the Book, Boise State University, for its Booker’s Dozen 2019-2020 show. Next summer the exhibit will come to Salt Lake City. Earlier in 2019, another artist’s book, City Skyline, was on exhibit in New Jersey at Montclair State University.
Sam enjoys teaching and has conducted arts workshops, demonstrations, and trainings from middle school to adult. In 2016, he was an artist-leader for a teachers’ workshop in Salt Lake City. “Art and Active Education” was conducted at the Art Access Gallery, focused on issues of social justice.
One of Sam’s paintings is owned by the Superior Court of NJ, Newark Vicinage. A longtime member of the Book Arts Round Table in South Orange, NJ, Sam is also a members of the Guild of Book Workers. Until recently, he was a member of the Society for the Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, a group of psychologists who are interested in the intersection of these three fields.
AGE GROUP: | All Ages |
EVENT TYPE: | Arts & Creativity |
NOTE: The Main Library's Rooftop Terrace is closed for renovations.
Salt Lake City's Main Library, designed by internationally-acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie in conjunction with VCBO Architecture, opened in February 2003 and remains one of the most architecturally unique structures in Utah. This striking 240,000 square-foot structure houses more than 500,000 books and other materials, yet serves as more than just a repository of books and computers. It reflects and engages the city's imagination and aspirations. The structure embraces a public plaza, with shops and services at ground level, reading galleries above, and a 300-seat auditorium.
A multi-level reading area along the Glass Lens at the southern facade of the building looks out onto the plaza with stunning views of the city and Wasatch Mountains beyond. Spiraling fireplaces on four floors resemble a column of flame from the vantage of 200 East and 400 South. The Urban Room between the Library and the Crescent Wall is a space for all seasons, generously endowed with daylight and open to magnificent views.
