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| A select grouping of Giza's portrait etchings |
On August 7th, 2015 (First Friday) we held an exhibition opening and artist reception for our latest show,
Body and Movement - Etchings by Brian Giza.
A master draftsman, portrait
and figurative artist,
Brian Giza can be found at ballet studios busily
sketching the dancers as they put on their shoes, stretch and rehearse. He
often works on the copper plates directly rather than sketching on paper first.
An accomplished thespian and professor at UTEP, every moment in his life not
teaching or performing Shakespeare is dedicated to making art. Giza’s dancers
come very close in skill and expression to those of Manet.
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| Left - Line of Swans, drypoint on copper. Right - Landscape, etching. |
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| Left - Tess in Lilac, 3-plate gravure. Right - Three in Snow, gravure. |
Giza says of his own work:I am a former
dancer and current balletomane whose work focuses on portraits, nudes, and the
environment of the ballet.
My greatest
joy in art is when I can discover, and then reveal some element of beauty to
the model and to the viewer. Because of
my long association with the performing arts, capturing backstage moods,
moments, and personalities is a thread that runs through my work.
Although some may see my background in art,
science, theater, and dance history as eclectic, these disciplines are actually
complementary...especially when rendering the art and science of dance in the
printmaking medium.
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| More shots of the installation |
Brian Giza also gave an excellent, live printmaking demonstration on the way he develops images on copper plates, inking and printing. Giza is fond of combining different kinds of intaglio approaches on the same individual plate surface, and he frequently returns to the same plates to continue developing the image over time.
Stay tuned for our video version of his demo! We'll be editing it and sharing it here on the blog in coming weeks.
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| One of Giza's rich copper plates |
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| His inking and printing demonstration set-up |
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| Here, Brian Giza discusses a worked copper plate with one of his models and other interested fans |
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| Detail of the plate |
Did you miss the opening reception? Don't worry.
The exhibition runs August 7 - 29, 2015.
More candids from the event:
