Rocky Lewycky

Artist: Rocky Lewycky
Title: Is It Necessary?
Medium: Sculpture - Ceramic sculptures (also, a gold-leafed pedestal, wood pallets, and text quotations on the gallery walls)
Size: Unknown* (installation/performance art)
Date: December 21, 2013 - February 23, 2014

About the Artist: Rocky Lewycky, born 1977 in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a contemporary artist living and working in Santa Cruz, California. His resume includes teaching positions at The University of South Carolina, Institute of American Indian Arts (I.A.I.A.), the Santa Fe Community College, Foothill College, Monterey Peninsula College, and De Anza College where he is currently head of ceramics. Rocky has been featured in museum shows, as well as gallery exhibits of contemporary sculpture, installation and performance throughout the country. Rocky was recognized by the Santa Fean magazine as ”One of the top five artists to watch in New Mexico,” and “Top Talent from emerging to established and our region’s most influential talent of all time,” in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In 2009, Rocky was chosen by Jo Lauria of Craft in America to install a ceramic art piece at the Eastern State Penitentiary for the 2010 Philadelphia NCECA conference. Most recently, he was honored with a $20,000 award from the Santa Cruz Rydel Visual Arts Fund of 2012/2013.

Artist Statement: My artwork is continuously shedding its skin, morphing through new mediums that convey ideas of time and transformation. Process is often a key entry point into my artistic expression, as demonstrated by mark making and repetition of form. Another element of my work is rooted in social activism. I am allured by the idea of the progressive existential hero whose paradigm is not limited by the current societal climate. Influences such as Eckhart Tolle, Rudolf Steiner, Joseph Beuys, and Wolfgang Laib permeate my art, as well as inspire the development of my own instruments of consciousness. With the appreciation, placement and necessity of art in present-day culture, I believe my work in deconstructing social barriers has the validity and strength to elicit insights into a more cohesive humanity.

About the Work, etc.: In Rocky's Santa Cruz MAH installation, there are hundreds of ceramic animal sculptures, grouped by species in rows. The sculptures sit across four wood pallets, which read "GENOCIDE: IS IT NECESSARY?". Every day, this installation turned into performance art when Rocky entered and smashed some sculptures, revealing the blood red interior of the ceramic animals. The rows of ceramic cows, turkeys, pigs, etc. and piles of ceramic fish are comparable to factory farming and mass fishing, seen not as living things, but a means of money. Once broken, the red interior becomes visible, representing the killing and blood of the "slaughtered" animals. Rocky's performance gives viewers a way to see just how these animals are being treated, as well as what it is like to be a worker in such a field, mindlessly killing without a second thought. 




*Once again, I know size is to be included, but I thought this was way too interesting and unique not to include. Forgive me!