(b. 1967)
American
Born: New Hartford, New York, U.S.A.
Gary Sczerbaniewicz constructs metaphorical multimedia environments and installations, often involving performance elements and audience interaction. In an artist’s statement about his work, he writes:
“I employ architectural references to forgotten or overlooked spaces such as closets, attics, basements, crawlspaces, tunnels, etc., and various marginal forms of architecture such as 19th century mineshafts, fallout shelters, catacombs, etc. I often reference the effect that these compressed and insular zones have on our psyche, whether real or imagined. I am also conscious of the sense of the sublime that occurs when visually processing a dense vista, a long tunnel, a field of multiplied similar forms. As a result, I find rich inspiration in the conception of spaces designed to evoke these feelings. … I long to trigger in my viewers some distant sense of emotional familiarity, dream memory, historic association, or even night terror in the experiencing of my work.” [1]
Sczerbaniewicz received his BFA in sculpture from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and his MFA from the Department of Visual Studies at the University at Buffalo in 2013. [2] He has had residencies at Sculpture Space in Utica, N.Y. and the Wassaic Project in Wassaic, N.Y. In 2013 he was a recipient of the Jacob Kassay MFA Award, and he was a 2010 member of the NYFA MARK program. He lives and works in Buffalo, NY.
For more information on Gary Sczerbaniewicz. visit http://garysczerbaniewiczart.tumblr.com/.
[1] Gary Sczerbaniewicz, Artist’s Statement, http://nyfamark.com/section/164290_Gary_Sczerbaniewicz.html. (Accessed 8/29/2014)
[2] Biographical information adapted from http://www.sculpturespace.org/gary-sczerbaniewicz/. (Accessed 8/29/2014)