United States
Statement
Kyle Giacomo has two primary artistic practices, working in both paint and photography. His paintings extend from broken, expressionistic, cartoon-like doodles. The sketches that make up the final work are a compendium of imagery, a fusion of images and non-images. He views them as a type of organic pop art as if the forest grew images instead of fungus. Each portrait tells an indeterminate but felt story. Giacomo uses an indeterminate method to arrive at images that are both free-form and recognizable, excessive and restrained, complex and naive. He tends to use bright, limited palette colors that form a kind of quilt. Giacomo hopes that the art communicates an energy that emerges out of a fractured image saturated landscape.
His work in photography has focused primarily on nature themed conceptual works, such as a (re)staging of Duchamp’s Unhappy Readymade. Unhappy Readymade is a multi-year documentation of a geometry book hanging in a tree as weather and wind orchestrate it’s transformation and return to the forest floor. Another project, The Chair, is a series of photographs of a chair in various states of wilderness. Giacomo has also collaborated with another artist on a photographic performance/study of Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse.
In all of his artistic practices, he draws on my experiences with wilderness and our seemingly incongruous place within it. How a wilderness both moves through nervous systems and visual terrains.
Profile
GlogauAIR resident from October 2019 to December 2019
GlogauAIR Project
While I have been devoted to an artistic practice for many years, I have not had the ability to focus intently on my art. I’d like to step away from my work as a non-profit community-based educator/manager to pursue a focused artistic practice. The residency program at GlogauAIR will give me the opportunity to continue to build a focused body of work and continue a year of artistic inquiry. I’m looking forward to also using the time to develop new project ideas.
I’m very interested in a time to work and focus on my art. I also would love the opportunity to work alongside and with fellow artists. I believe that GlogauAIR would offer both of these opportunities. I like that the residency stresses the community happenings, events, and exhibitions. I believe this experience will have a lifelong positive impact. I also love the opportunity to experience the inspirational atmosphere of Berlin.
CV Summary
EDUCATION
- 2009 Master of Arts, English with Concentration in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY, San Francisco, CA
- 2001 Bachelor of Arts, English, HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY, Arcata, CA
EXHIBITIONS
- 2018 50/50 – Sanchez Art Center – Pacifica, California
- Lovers Discourse – 50 Fragments
- 2017 Connected – Public Works – San Francisco, California
- 2012-2017 Art Explosion Open Studios – San Francisco, California
RESIDENCIES
- 2019 Arts, Letters, Numbers – Averill Park, New York
