Venezuelan/Americans Cazorla & Saleme began working together in 2010. They have earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts both and are living in New York since 1996. They have been awarded exhibitions, commissions, residencies and grants inside and outside of the US. To highlight a few are: the DUMBO Arts Festival, Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx Community College, Hammond Museum, Taller Puertorriqueño, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Pierr o Gallery, Port Authority of NY & NJ with the Garment District. The Knight Foundation, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and the Puffin Foundation grants. Gallery Aferro and the Vermont Studio Center residencies. This year they have won the UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant to create a public art commission for NYC Parks.
Statement:
We have been collaborating for the last five years, although our partnership goes far back. As a painter and sculptor duo, our art practice is very versatile and broad. We find our passion in public art and strongly believe that art can widen perspectives and educate a community. Our main goal is to create work that is accessible to and empowering for all.
Our artworks are large-scale mixed media drawings that are translated into sculptures as well as wall, 3D, and ground murals. We use a variety of media and techniques such as charcoal, acrylics, permanent markers, silver liquid leaf, industrial paint, commercial vinyl, lighting, sound, computer software and CNC routers. We draw inspiration from the immigrant and migrant working-class community, combining beauty and meaning.
We have had the opportunity to present our multimedia work at various public sites. Our 3D-mural “Brocados” was tied to the history of immigrant women in North Philadelphia and the rise and fall of the textile industry. For this site, we built an oversized seamstress surrounded by a cityscape, creating a harmony of bright colors and an abstracted composition that dominates the space. For the Port Authority of NY & NJ, we created a more personal piece: a bucolic cornfield populated by migrant farm workers, presented in contrast to the atmosphere of an urban transportation hub, bringing a message of hope.
At its core, our art practice is an endless search for social justice and a humble contribution to building a more historically and politically aware society.
DeFence, 2010
Charcoal pencil, ink, permanent markers, liquid Silver leaf and acrylic on hand-made wooden fence
72″ x 144″ x 3
