The Art of Donald-Rizzo
Abstract Verism
Fragments of Donald Rizzo ! ! !
September 20, 2013·by {theEye}· in ART, Rebel Society. ·
Chuck Close in his studio.
Madam Secretary by Donald Rizzo
JOHN: What are you doing when not painting or drawing?
DONALD: Sleeping. From the moment I get up in the morning until an hour before I go to bed, I’m working on my art. Weekends, holidays, 7 days a week, I’m creating. A major reason is my health. I have HIV and I developed mitochondrial toxicity (MT) from the medication. The mitochondrial in my leg muscles and upper back were most effected. I wasn’t producing adequate ATP and this greatly effected my mobility. Their was a period of time when I couldn’t raise my hands above my ears and feared I wouldn’t be able to paint much longer. I also found painting to be a healing experience both mentality and emotionally.
JOHN: Are you inspired by cinematic art?
DONALD: I had to think about this question. On the surface I’d say no, but then I think sub-consciously I would be influenced.
JOHN: Could you tell us how you developed your technique of color juxtaposition?
DONALD:
I was diagnosed with severe depression with psychotic symptoms. Let me start by saying when one experience delusions; thats their reality. This psychosis was adaptive for instance when I told the voices that were repeating everything I said out loud that they couldn’t know what I really thought because they can’t read my mind. Within two weeks the voices were repeating my private thoughts. When a thought entered my mind that I didn’t want them to know, I had to immediately change my thought. This was pure madness. I realized that my conscience mind was battling my sub-conscience mind. If this battle continued both minds would lose as I had numerous close calls with death during this time. With this psychosis I found myself staring at reflections, the more uneven the surface the better. Reflections in three or more surface where bits of information was used from the multiple planes the more intriguing I found them. Then I discovered that pix elated images had hidden messages, some that could be seen zoomed in and some seen zoomed out. Again my conscience and sub-conscience mind attempting communication.
With this technique Color Juxtaposition the mind must construct the shapes in the viewers mind were their sub-science mind plays a significant role. With my painting “If I Only had a Brain” there are two faces one in portrait and one in profile. The portrait is more apparent from affair and the profile is revealed up-close. There is a distance where both faces oscillate and the mind can’t stop it from oscillating. Here the viewer can experience a small fragment of my psychosis. Also because of the physics of reflected light the painting changes as light dims in the room, or one looks at the painting from a 45 degree angle as opposed to a 90 degree angle. Just like those hidden messages in my psychosis.
Looking4CockNow by Donald Rizzo
JOHN: How do you choose the subjects for your artwork?
DONALD: They choose me. I start with a photo and I begin to work and massage it. My sub-science plays a role and at some point during the process, I discover the message it wants me to project. Every painting I’ve done in some way I make it about me. Each painting becomes a fragment of my self portrait. My early paintings “The Lonely, The Forgotten and The Outcast” are paintings of healing. Healing from the immense pain of depression. I mentioned above about delusions being real, these paintings became the start of my healing from my reaction to this reality. As I write this I still can’t call them delusions.
And now with “Shades of Purple” as I state in the artist statement: “The time for sound bites is over. We need to move our conversations to a more productive and less condemning place. With a little bit of humility and the willingness to listen to another’s perspective, we might just have a chance to talk about solutions instead of blame.”
JOHN: Some of your portraits feature famous faces-do you ever get any feedback from the subjects of the paintings?
DONALD: As of yet, no, but would love to have a conversation with Chuck Close about “Chasing that Experience”. I have found images of semi-famous people on Facebook andunbeknownst to them I’ll complete the painting and when posting it to Facebook, I’ll tag that individual in painting. I’ve had some remarkable comments, I do enjoy that.
Be sure to check out Donald Rizzo’s site!
Until next time,
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