Kent State School of Art's Downtown Gallery of Abstract Art from Richard Lazzaro

The Kent State School of Art's Downtown Gallery is presenting the exhibit "Far East to West, A Series of Gouache Works" featuring artist Richard Lazarro now through June 16. The Downtown Gallery is located at 141 E. Main Street, Kent, Ohio.

Richard Lazzaro has been a prominent advocate for abstract painting for more than 50 years as an artist and educator. His work has been included in several invitational exhibitions in museums, art centers and galleries throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia and South America. Over the years his experimentation in painting moved away from the reference of the visible world to an exploration of flat space, movement, color direct painting and the use of nonspecific imagery.

"I find it difficult to pursue pure abstraction without feeling a sense of guilt about abandoning the teachings and humanist concerns that were so eloquently discussed by my mentors," said Lazarro. "I therefore want passion to be a part of the work, and to have it be an expression of experience not solely about aesthetics."

Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1937, Richard Lazzaro studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art (1955-59), Kent State University (B.F.A., 1961) and the University of Illinois (M.F.A., 1963). He is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he taught drawing and painting in the Department of Art from 1963-2001. He has lived in Mexico, New York City and Europe. Lazzaro's art is represented in more than 400 private and public collections including among many others, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Institute of Art, the Dayton Art Institute and the Cleveland Print Club in Ohio.

The mission of the School of Art's Downtown Gallery is to provide a public venue for the diverse forms of visual art produced by the students, faculty, and alumni of the School of Art, to provide a place where the School of Art and the community may interact and to highlight excellent regional and national artists whose work educates and stimulates our students and our community at large. The Downtown Gallery is also the home of The Artist Network of Kent (TANK), a local arts group.

For more information on the School of Art at Kent State, visit http:dept.kent.edu/art.

###

Contact Information:

Effie Tsengas, PR/Marketing Director, College of the Arts, 330-672-8398, etsengas@kent.edu
Anderson Turner, Director of Galleries, 330-672-1369, haturner@kent.edu