ATA is excited to present the work of Lisa Lozano, who recently graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute (BFA, 2006). Lozano’s work combines photography with painting to provide a series of compelling contemporary images steeped in traditional, symbolic and spiritual language. The series she presents at ATA is inspired by the major arcana of the Tarot deck.
Artist Statement: I use photo tableau combined with landscapes to create an imaginary construct as a palette to develop invented personas. Creating an imaginary space for my subjects allows me to work with and recycle an amalgamation of historical symbols. Dedicating an assemblage of symbols with my subject creates an iconic archetype from the personas that I believe them to originally carry. My subjects lose their identity, become examples of my vocabulary and represent personal interpretations of personas within contemporary culture. I question the already understood significance of these symbols and want to find ways to comprehend and reinterpret their meanings. I concentrate on symbols relating to history, metaphysics, pop culture, religion and invented symbols that illustrate the quest for human transcendence. Grouping a pastiche of icons also references my search for spirituality in a godless generation.
The integration of two mediums provides a visual montage by combining photography with hand-crafted illustration. I choose to hand paint symbols to enhance the archetype suggested and to ask the viewer what is real in my work and in the symbols themselves.
