Welcome Lucien Shapiro (RAiR 2022-23)
Lucien Shapiro was born in 1979, in Santa Rosa, CA. He attended San Francisco Academy of Art University and received a BFA in 2003. Shapiro is a multi-faceted artist whose work spans across sculpture, performance, and film. Shapiro’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, festivals, galleries, and art fairs. Shapiro’s work is process-focused and common themes include repetition, a meticulous attention to craft, self-healing, and the transformation of forgotten objects into interesting and symbolic relics.
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The most important themes I draw upon in my art practice are transformation, repetition, meditation, and growth. In a world of rapid climate change, by utilizing materials most would discard, I create a raw conversation between treasure and trash. I typically use materials like bottle caps and “street diamonds'' (glass from vandalized cars I sweep off the street), thereby transforming them into something new and hopeful. Through laborious and meditative repetition, I examine how small individual elements, though often overlooked, can come together to create a powerful and transformative whole. By using found and collected materials, I explore ways to reshape and relearn what we are originally taught. There is an inherent duality in my work, namely the contrast of urban materials (which are ephemeral, prescribed, industrial) and an aesthetic of something deeply rooted (poetic, hand-crafted, and eternal).
I am interested in dissecting every element that creates the human I am today. This goes back through generations of family trauma, education, parenting, and guidance. Through creation I have the opportunity to tear all of this down and rebuild it over and over again. This is why my work concentrates on objects of intention, like self portraits, portals, protection walls, and earth spells. These forms echo a healing language that lives in my experiences of deep self work, experimentation and travel.
Over the last ten years I have also incorporated performance and films to better explore my practice. All performances are crowd participatory and challenge the viewers to face anything, from their greatest fears to manifesting and setting intentions. Through these experiences, I can remove myself and insert a character that my work becomes. With this separation I am trying to show that all humans are equal, and we come from the same source in the universe. Each individual is powerful enough to enact change in their own life, and to establish meaningful practices that help them accomplish their goals. I am merely a conduit, using my art to help viewers begin their personal process of healing.