February 2011 Exibition at Michael Lord Gallery, Palm Springs, CA

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The Year is off to a Good Start with Positive Press concerning Last Years Work and my Future Upcoming Show at Michael Lord Gallery in Palm Springs, CA. For Details on the February Exhibition Please see the Michael Lord Gallery Web Site at http://www.michaelhlordgallery.com/  The Show will be Georgesco's First with Michael Lord.
The space is Immaculate with up to 6,000 sq ft of Exhibition Space and is one of the Top Galleries in The Coachella Valley. The Gallery was once a Parking Structure for the El Mirador Hotel one of Palm Springs finest back when the City was established and is steeped in History.

The Exhibition will comprise of 5 Table Top Monoliths and 3 Monumental Monoliths of Laser Cut #304 Stainless Steel in the Front Gallery and Pieces from 1998 through 2009 in the Back Gallery giving the viewer a glimpse into the metamorphic process Georgesco's work goes through from Series to Series. Stainless Steel is now the Material of choice for Christopher Georgesco. The Durability and ability to require minimum maintenance in all Outdoor environment's for Centuries to come and its Modern quality are both reasons for choosing this Material over Bronze. 

The New Sculptures all from 2010 are from the "Rectangular Revisions Series". The New Sculptures are Laser Cut from a single Rectangular Plate of 1/2" #304 Stainless Steel Plate and opened up and reconfigured creating contrast between the Positive and Negative Space juts of position as the viewer moves around the Monolithic works. The Table Top Pieces are 32"h x 9" dia Base. The Monumental works are 8' high x 27" dia base.

The Works Exhibited in the Back Gallery  comprise of several pieces from the 1998 show "Urns and Vessels".  Several Works from the "The White Series" 1999-2001, Sculptures from the "Leaves Series" which range fro 2002-2008 and finally a Series of 4 Sculptures from a fairly New Series "Prismatic Centrifuge" dated 2009-2010. All together the Exibition should consist of around 25 pieces. Ambitious at any account. and should fall into The West Coast Event "Pacific Standard Time which is being kicked off with a Reception for the Artist and a Toast to Lyn Kienholz's New Encyclopedia "L.A. Rising: SoCal Artist before 1980" which will be held at The Getty in Brentwood,CA in December. The Encyclopedia which will include entries by Christopher Georgesco has been in the works for at least the last 3 years. It should be a interesting evening seeing my Contemporaries and Mentors attending the Event.

I look Forward to seeing you and my friends at my February Exhibition which co insides with Modernism Week in Palm Springs, CA. There will also be photographs on displayed of Albert Freys Mid Century Architecture. Hoping to see you at the Opening Friday, February 6th, from
6-8pm at Michel Lord Gallery, 1090 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, Ca. For more information on the Exhibition feel free to call the Gallery at (760) 699 8957. Hope to see you there.

Thanks for Visiting. Happy Holidays from the Georgesco's

The Process of Creating Modern Contemporary Sculpture

The difference between Modern Contemporary Sculpture versus Painting is that when working in Sculpture usually one first does a sketch, transfers that sketch into a Plan and finally scales down the plan to a model. Due to the High Expense of sculpture: Materials, Labor and Handling there is is little room for mistakes. The Cost involved and the amount of Time and Labor rules out the possibility of experimentation unless of course you are talking about such works as Assemblage.

• Unlike painting which can become illusive in it's execution, which to a experienced painter or Color Field Painter the medium is viscous and easily changed when manipulated. Many painters may start with a idea or drawing but for the most part painting is a spontaneous act. Abstract Expressionism especially lends itself to to the Art of Chance. I have often been jealous of the plight of the painter. Juggling a canvas often seated in a chair and exerting oneself with the Act of Lifting a Brush. A painter can often do a painting a day or week. However often some paintings take years to complete. The sculptor is faced with physical element of the materials at hand and depending on the budget may be subjected to weeks of heavy labor. There have been many innovations available to Modern Contemporary Sculpture in the past few decades. In the early days steel was cut by hand using a Jig Saw or Band Saw. With modern technology one has several choices of cutting metal. They are all used with the Aid Of A Computer Program and consist of Plasma cutting using gases and a flame to cut the metal on a a elevated table with a horizontal beam which holds the plasma cutting flame and moves right to left or visa versa giving the computer the freedom of tracing any configuration. Water Jet is a fairly New Innovation and uses high pressure water jet to cut materials as hard as Stainless Steel up to 6 inches thick. At the top of the Tech Tools available is the Laser Cutting which is by far the most accurate and leaves the smoothest and squared result edge to the plate. In the Old days the metal usual welded with Arc Welders which leave slag and are efficient but the most difficult to achieve the perfection required for finishes such as Powder Coating which will resist bonding to any surface that contains ant contaminates such as Slag. Today the preferred welding method is Wire Feed or Tig and at the high end of the spectrum is Heli Arc which is the cleanest, most accurate and can be adapted to Bronze, Copper, Stainless and a host of additional alloys.
• Once the parts are cut to plan usually the next step is tacking the whole sculpture together. This is absolutely necessary as with the heat applied in welding parts are apt to warp or shift. Tacking a sculpture together in its entirety insures a accurate fit and little to no warpage. A 8ft plus high sculpture usually takes in the neighborhood of a month to complete. That gives the sculptor of monumental works the high end possibility of completing maybe 12 sculptures a tear. As a painter may do 2 or 3 times as as many works. One of the things I like best About Modern contemporary Sculpture is that is often displayed in Public Places to be enjoyed by all and leaving a cultural stamp on a City, while paintings often end up indoors in Museums or private collections and are not as accessible to the public.

New Stainless Steel Moniliths. Exhibition in February 2011. Michael Lord Gallery.

After just hitting my 60th Birthday I decided to turn my Sculpture Works to one of the most Durable Sculpture Materials on the Planet "Stainless Steel". Seeing my Life to be in the 4th quarter I have chosen this material as it is sure to endure time for centuries to come. I have almost exclusively worked with the Monolith in Sculpture because of its Modernistic Quality, "Less is More".

Post Modernism gives me a head ache. I really am questioned to analyse my beliefs when confronted with Post Modernist Sculpture. All kinds of Shapes and Volumes thrown together. Its as perplexing as Post Modernist Architecture. If you don't have a Eye for Clean and Simple lines attach a bunch of Spheres or Decorative Shapes on it to dress it up. Trite but True to the Trained Eye. You are left with opposite scenario of "More is Less".

However Old Modernism may be, it will never dated. The "Less is More" Concept will always be the most direct and cleanest solution to composition. It is Timeless as Elegance Itself.

Its Interesting working with the New Technology of today. My New Stainless Series is cut with Laser Beams and Helli-Arced together. The Pieces are part of a Metamorphic Process I have followed for the past 42 years in my Sculpture beginning in Venice Beach, California in 1968-1982. Coming out of Minimalism and the Cube the Sculptural Trend of the 60's, I chose to Abstract the Rectangle. I work with the Rectangle because of its Graceful Proportions, not the stocky stance of the Cube which does not as easily adapt to a Monolithic Format such a Stone Henge. Sculpture had gone to its simplest reductive realm in the 60's, therefore I decided on Abstracting Minimalism and referred to my Sculpture as "Abstract Minimalism". I see my work in its Early Drawings Stages to be very similar to the compositions of Elsworth Kelly. Breaking Shapes Up such as the Rectangle with one or two lines in the right place. The Sculpture is Contained within the Two Dimensional Form with nothing omitted. It is then Opened and reconfigured leaving nothing no waste. Yes this is Minimal. Yes this is Abstract due to the Manipulation of the Sum Total of its Parts.

The Rectangles in this Series have been split with 2 lines from a Vocabulary derived from Simple Minimal Shapes Cut and Opened . The Planes repositioned much like a Flower Blooming. This altering of configuration results in a interaction of the shapes working in opposition to each other. This opposition of Positive and Negative Forms Interacting results in Movement taking you around The Monolith in 360 degrees of continually changing Forms and Relationships. Stainless Steel is expensive and hard to work with, but well worth the price to create pieces that will endure the ages with little Maintenance.

I find Stainless Steel to be more Modern than Bronze its predecessor in the past. By using Stainless my work has entered the realm of "Light and Space", due to the highly reflective nature of the material, a West Coast Tradition and Modernist Concept which I have chosen to profess for its Purity and reference to Nature. I will always remember what my Architect Father and Mentor taught me as Child and what I choose to Profess Today. "When in Doubt, Go to the Light". Some what strange that what began so many years ago in The Bauhaus still Rings even Truer Today.

The Exhibition will include Stainless Steel Table Top Pieces as well as 8 foot Stainless Steel Versions which weigh in excess of 800 pounds.

Earlier select works from Christopher Georgesco's "White Series", "Leaf Series", and "Prismatic Centrifuge Series" 2009 will also be on Display.

Christopher Georgesco on Sculpture