About:
Aristotle Georgiades received a B.F.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is professor emeritus of Art/ Sculpture at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His work ranges from issues of male identity, labor economics, and more recently, the changing American landscape in a post-industrial economy. He works in wood, metal, and recycled architectural materials. Georgiades has exhibited his sculptural works nationally and internationally in both curated group and solo exhibitions. He has had many reviews of his work in various publications including Art In America, Sculpture Magazine and The Chicago Tribune. He is also part of the collaborative public art team Actual Size Artworks (with Gail Simpson) which produces large scale permanent and temporary public works.
Statement:
My sculptural work is often of human scale using recognizable imagery. The majority of my early work had some relation to labor history, labor and the changing nature of work as we know it. As the son of a Greek immigrant whose pursuit of the American dream was adversely affected by the McCarthy era of the 1950’s, these issues are of particular interest to me. Notions of class, identity and time seem to emerge as central concerns. Although these are some of the ideas that drive my work I still believe in the ideals of craftsmanship, humor and beauty. Recently, material reuse and salvage have become much more relevant to my work both technically and conceptually. The contrast between permanent and throwaway materials within an architectural context interests me, as do the land-use and class issues in and around suburbia. As technology grows more sophisticated and we continue to build in the spirit of civic improvement, I can’t help but wonder what we have lost or given up in the name of “progress”.
