Sculptor Generates Chaos at Solo Show

Houston, TX, November 21, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Most people do not think of shotguns, rifles, pistols, and paint balls as the tools of a visual artist, but for Houston sculptor James Ciosek they are his first step. He shoots guns at sheets of corrugated tin and fiberglass scrounged from Hurricane Ike debris. Then he constructs the blasted material into twelve foot tall cylinders, and lights them from inside with fluorescent bulbs covered by lenses. The end results are nine large-scale shadow boxes, with colored light beaming out of randomly created chaotic patterns of holes.

Ciosek’s series, titled “Constructed Chaos,” has been invited by curator/collector Gus Kopriva for a solo show at Redbud Gallery, as part of its “Redbud Projects” area. The festively lit sculptures will be on display outside, on the east side of the gallery, beginning with an opening party on December 3rd from 6-8pm and ongoing into 2012. Redbud Gallery is located at 303 E. 11th. St., Houston, TX 77008. For more info.: gakopriva@aol.com, or www.redbudgallery.com.

“I really appreciate the chaotic patterns found in Nature- in waves, or the grain of wood- for example. I wanted to come up with a way to divorce the artist’s hand from the design as much as possible in order to create that same truly random look, so I started using guns. You can only be so accurate, the wind blows the buckshot around, and no two paint ball splatters are ever the same,” states Ciosek. The organic look of this firearm treatment is meant to contrast with the ordered architectural lines of the corrugated materials. The artist continues, “I am very inspired by Chaos Theory. Besides the visual concerns, I am also trying to develop a thematic concept about destruction being a part of creation, regeneration, and growth cycles in Nature.” More on the theme of “Constructed Chaos” and photos can be found at www.jamesciosek.com.

James Ciosek has been sculpting in Houston since 2006. As an accomplished metal smith he cut his teeth in the high end glass bending and blacksmithing sectors. He is well known in Houston for his prize winning “Frankenova” art car hotrod, and his youth art bicycle initiative “Space City Art Bikes” which he currently facilitates at Roberts Elementary School. Two works from “Constructed Chaos” have already seen some action in the art world. “Peeling Reed,” inspired one local curator to do a show based entirely on art made from hurricane debris. Another work in the set, “Man Made Disaster,” won a juror’s prize, was selected for Lawndale Art Center’s 2010 “The Big Show” and recently sold to a private collector in Houston.

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