Location: United States
Ersilia Zaccaro Crawford Artist Statement
In 1954 I studied painting and Art Education at Hunter College and was much influenced by the New York artists teaching there: William Baziotes, Raymond Carter, Ad Reinhart and especially Robert Motherwell. For more than 20 years, collage has been central to my work. I find deep pleasure in using torn pieces of my old paintings, followed by the addition of discarded bark, hair, rope, yarn, musical notes, antique texts and more. My collages call for color to complete a structure that relates to time, timelessness, music, architecture, space, and natural forces. My process leads me to a place of deep joy derived from the knowledge that my work reflects my spiritual reality that all, myself included, are made of the same infinitesimal matter. Every painting is a reflection of my being and my hope is that the viewer may share this transcendental feeling.
I began collaging with Christmas gift paper and torn and used fabric on my figure paintings. Soon I moved away from the figure and diversified my paintings towards abstraction. Now I make my collages using rusted metal scraps, broken plastics, literally, what I step on, also, bark, twigs, seeds, sand and dried grasses. This year I am 84 and, yes, I feel the tug of mortality and immortality. In my work, I nod to transformations; and, in gluing each piece with some artistic sensibility, I rejoice.
30 x 25, Acrylic Collage on Linen
13 x 13, 2016, Mixed Media on Canvas
28 x 20, 2006, Acrylic Collage on Linen
33 x 31, 2015, Mixed Media on Linen
20 x 16, 2016, Mixed Media on Canvas
13 x 13, 2016, Mixed Media on Canvas
30 x 42, 2002, Acrylic Collage on Canvas
“Perle dal Mercato”
“The First La”
“Palimpsest”
“Etude d'une Sage Femme”
“Rising”
“Imagine”
“Tete-a-tete”
