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A Man Of
Mc-Coy Lazaruz
October 12 - November 02, 2024
1/5
Facing A Life Beyond Calendar Days
Mc-Coy Lazaruz delves into the deep waters of identity in A Man of One and Thirty, using a blue-dominated palette to explore facial planes of the self in its many guises. Through portraits that shift between inner and outer worlds, his works ask how much of ourselves we reveal to the world, and how much we hold back.
The artist continues his signature exploration of faces, often blank, staring directly at the viewer. Confrontational, yet still keeping their distance. They may suggest the visages of strangers we pass by, us unaware of their stories or struggles. They may also be, partly, versions of us whether we know it or not. Lazaruz presents the self as a collection of experiences, with several pieces sporting numerous eyes that signify the many things seen and witnessed over time. These faces, anonymous yet familiar, invite viewers to reflect on their own encounters with life's unknowns.
Among the exhibited pieces are small paintings measuring 6 x 5 inches, with singular faces emerging from the canvas, representing the flux of identity and perception. A larger, standout work features a blank face staring ahead, suggesting a silent gaze that holds both mystery and familiarity. His work has evolved from the experimental portraits of 2014 to a more refined style that incorporates his fascination with graphite and layering, and as he challenges himself further, has found a sweet spot in painting faces in cyan-blue, a color synonymous with his self-reflective, emotionally charged pieces. His direct-on-canvas approach rejects traditional proportions, instead focusing on the rendering and emotion each face evokes. He paints straight on canvas sans studies, drawing on the energy of his subjects, and allowing for flexibility in spacing and form. He is particularly drawn to the way blue communicates mood and depth, guiding his pieces into spaces of introspection, helping them leap out visually on a background of graduated reds and stripes of cloud. As an artist who naturally gravitates toward deep emotional expression, he often takes the opportunity to come up with titles that direct the narrative, letting words underscore the feeling that one obtains upon viewing the works. The most terrible sleeping pattern, Paralyzed over thinking over thinking, Involuntary childhood terrorist, Aversion to decision, Almost lost it, Wishing to come to his senses, Fighting on bad stimuli, Once upon a time it was impossible to extract milk, and the titular A man of one and thirty may be descriptive of what the artist is thinking in the process of making, influenced as he is by the power of words and literary epithets from movie dialogue and such, but what the viewer perceives is still the last piece of the puzzle. Lazaruz leaves the conclusion to the audience: "When they see the piece, I hope they are the ones to offer the final word."
A Man of One and Thirty offers a powerful meditation on the self—its many faces, its hidden depths, and the experiences that shape us all. Through his distinctive blue palette, Lazaruz invites us to confront the enigma of identity, pushing us to question what lies behind every blank face we encounter.
Kaye O’Yek
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