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News Release
Contact: Maria Winclawski, NIU School of Art
(815) 753-0717
September 14, 2004
Texas artist Al Souza
to speak at NIU School of Art
DeKalb — The Fine Arts Studio Division of the School of Art at Northern Illinois University presents a lecture and slide presentation at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 27, by Professor Al Souza of the University of Houston.
Souza’s lecture and presentation will be held in Room 110 of the Visual Arts Building on the NIU campus in DeKalb. It is free and open to the public. Call (815) 753-0717 for more information. The Visual Arts Building is accessible to all.
As in the past, Souza’s current work continues to use commercially made puzzles as his medium to create vibrant works. His new work is all within a circular tondo format, which energizes the already dynamic collages of layered puzzles. His paintings take his exploration of the compositional possibilities of puzzles whose subject matter includes kitschy soft-focus flowers, postage stamps, paint cans, space shuttles and watermelons.
Up close, the work overwhelms the eye with intense detail, but from afar creates a rich tapestry of color and texture in coherent compositions. Souza’s instinctive sense of balance counteracts the chaos produced by the layering of pattern.
Using manufactured puzzles instead of paint to create his fanciful compositions has opened up a whole community to Souza that he otherwise never would have encountered. His network of jigsaw enthusiasts who hunt down and piece together puzzles for him crisscrosses the United States. These non-traditional friends add a hidden social element to the works that is of fundamental interest to Souza in choosing this medium.
Souza’s solo exhibition “Mix Master” was recently on view at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C., in a one-person exhibition titled “Inverse Warp Field.”
He exhibits nationally and internationally and is represented in the United States by the Charles Cowles Gallery in New York City and the Betty Moody Gallery in Houston. His work is included in major public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu; Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla; and Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.
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