Dara Lorenzo
Artist. Educator. Gallery Owner.
A multimedia artist. Recent bodies of work use found objects and scrap wood to make abstract assemblages with paint, collage and printmaking. In the work there is reference to the human connection through our rituals, prose and the sharing of spaces. The work talks about living in the city, taking walks: juxtaposing silence with laughter, fear with bravery and calm with stress.
The latest project evokes emotion through mark making and mixed media drawing materials. The idea is to try to find a calm emotional space to think about relationships.
CURRENT WORK
DE-TOUR
2023
PORTALS
2023
KNUCKLEHEADS
2020
Dara Lorenzo and Writer Timmy Reed have been friends since they were fourteen years old and this is their first time collaborating for a gallery show. Knuckleheads is a showcase celebrating love and old friendship while at play exploring the often chaotic world that can be life in their grimy, beloved hometown, Baltimore City. The pieces in the show represent the mixed emotions that fill the city and the artists’ personal lives: Abstraction versus clarity, textual narrative, loud statements, wild afternoons, joy, vandalism, and, hopefully, empathy. They aim to bring the audience into a world of alleys, bridges, parks, and stoops full of potential, excitement, and humor, as well as frequent depression and despair. It is also just life. It is just for fun. Hey, You Knuckleheads! (T. Reed 2020)
COURSE OF ACTION
2019
"Course of Action" is a collaborative series between abstract painter Mario Navasero and Dara Lorenzo. This work embodies the urge to make work that artists experience when having a creative block or just trying to alter their style. The idea reflects “What’s next?"
Dara and Mario taught each other about their processes and worked on some pieces together and independently. The series consists of mixed media, carving acrylic paint, multiple intaglio processes, and relief. They illustrate the improvisation each artist experiences while reacting to the others' mark-making.
SOUL SONG PARALYTIC
2017 - 18
Soul Song is a collaboration with Saint Solitude’s musical album: Soul Song Paralytic. Dup Crossen, the song-writer and lyricist called on Dara to make visual art representing the songs on the album. For two years, Saint Solitude performed throughout Oakland and San Francisco in multiple galleries and venues with the work displayed. Dara made new pieces to add to the narrative during that time. It was a living, growing, changing experience.
The band also made a music video for one of the songs on the album called: Radio Silence. The work reflects the paralyzing emotions of grief and trying to make way to a stage of acceptance. It depicts the back and forth in one’s mind about the memories we struggle to let go of in our lives and the people.
Check out the links for an experience of the shows and videos.
HELLA OAKLAND
2016
“Hella Oakland” was a period of self- investigation and solitude. The work process was a time of discovery and soul searching. I took a lot of risks and had many breakthroughs. I was transparent about my emotions and reactions to everyday objects in my path. Each piece is a narrative that relates to the next, and mimics moments that I had every day like in a film. The thoughts that I had when looking at these places on a constant meander was poetic for me. Graffiti and the street art in Oakland were motivations. I found myself attached to the street during this process. It uses photo-etching print process, viscosity and collage through the press.
