Today we’d like to introduce you to Roger Kizik.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a rare bird, literally born in Boston and product of U.S. Navy and Mass College of Art, now transplanted to South Coast of Massachusetts. I go back and forth in my work as a painter from energetic, highly gestural abstraction to expressive representation. I’ve exhibited in many museums and institutions around New England, including Museum of Fine Arts, ICA Boston, Decordova Museum, Rose Art Museum, etc. Serendipity often plays a role in where my art takes me, from trolling museum collections for inspiration here and abroad, while based in a coastal studio I built mostly myself some years ago. I am probably too eclectic for my own good in response to nature and my own inner life, though an ongoing series of book ‘portraits’ reflects that restlessness. They range from monographs of favorite artists and writers to field guides, modernist design icons and nautical ephemera….and anything else that prompts my desire to ‘capture’ and share.
My early exhibit history consisted of resolutely oversize abstractions that garnered a share of critical interest but were difficult to find homes for – my studio is as much mausoleum as abode. But over time I found platforms to satisfy my creative appetite – through commissions or site-specific installations, or compressing energy to smaller formats that still ‘filled a room’. And I’m certainly thankful that every door opened in my life is through the art making process – I feed the stove to keep the thread going, and never worry too much where the next opportunity will arise.
Please tell us about your art.
mmmm……..think I covered that in previous segment.
Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national or international events and issues affect your art?
I think, as the world is faced with ever deepening environmental, political, and moral challenges, more and more artists have added their voice to the dialogue, in varying degrees, to confront leadership and the status quo, or to stake out territory in a leadership capacity. I, unfortunately, am not one of them. While I’d describe myself as something of a liberal/libertarian, with a contrary streak, my art doesn’t necessarily reflect the turmoil around me [though I do live in an utterly pastoral corner of the planet]. I may be more in the mold of Morandi, or Chardin, where I look around, savor, make things, ruminate, be a good friend & neighbor, leave a light footprint – despite building, from scratch, a large home/studio on a hilltop site that was once hallowed ground of the native Pokanoket tribe, an act I anguished deeply over, but still plowed ahead. Argghh!!
Yes, I’m a ‘lone maker’ […not a Lone Ranger] and feel perfectly fine with that. For many years I was a museum Preparator, in a part-time but tailored job that did not compromise my art career, but still had me solving, endlessly, other people’s problems. Eventually, I left, amicably, with a glorious send-off exhibit of my work, because I didn’t want to die as a ‘Preparator’ but as an ARTIST. Have yet to regret that decision.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I’ll have an October duo exhibit with friend and mutual fan Clara Wainwright at Gallery Kayafas in Boston; my work can also be seen at Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA and Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Westport, MA. I’m in collections at Rose Art Museum, Danforth Museum, Decordova Museum and Sculpture Garden, New Bedford Whaling Museum, Currier Museum of Art, MoCA San Diego, Framingham State University, Meditech Corporation. Check my website, rogerkizik.com, or just google my name and various links will come up.
Contact Info:
- Address: Roger Kizik 7 Gulf Hill Dr.
S, Dartmouth, MA. 02748 - Website: rogerkizik.com
- Phone: 508 994 9163
- Email: rogerkizik@comcast.net
- Other: gallerykayafas.com dedeeshattuckgallery.com clarkgallery.com
Image Credit:
Corinna Raznikov.
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