Old Woman and the Truck Side - Michael Angelo Gagliardi

Steel, found objects
 
"Both of these artworks are from my younger years, where I was fresh out of collage with my with my degrees in Painting and sculpture and theatrical design, living in the vibrant art mecca, New York City.
“Old Woman And The Truck Wall…” came about when I found a piece of sheet metal from the side of asemi-truck on the Long Island Expressway. Even till this day I love finding these thrown a way pieces of everyday life. These objects, like so many of society’s lost souls, call out to me to make them into my art. Onto this discarded sheet metal I heated and shaped this old woman, who much like the metal was ripped and stripped and thrown away, left by society on the side of the road. She covers herself and looks away. Maybe she’s homeless, maybe she has grown too old and is abandoned by her family. Yes, she’s just a character I made up but, to me, she represents life’s lost souls, those left behind on the side of the road.
“He’s Hiding In The Corn Field…“ represents another lost soul, one who is afraid. This man is being hunted. This man is hiding in this corn field because those that hunt him will hurt him. They don’t see him as a man, to them he is an animal. The work is the moment the man hears the shout, and knows he’s been found. This is the moment that the man knows that fight is impossible, and flight has failed.
 
Illustrations for stories not yet told…
 
These art works represent an aesthetic concept where the viewer is invited to participate in the artistic process.
In all his paintings and sculpture, Michael Angelo has created a character, environment, and symbolic subliminal imagery. In addition, the artwork is titled with a caption to the story it is representing. This is a moment frozen in time, a vignette, a Rorschach blot in which the artist gives no further explanation than what is visually presented.
The viewer is asked to look at this imagery and ask oneself what its story is. The viewer is not a passive by product of the artistic process, but rather an active element that gives meaning to the work. In the end all art is a story and each artist a storyteller.
As with a Rorschach blot, no two viewers will create the same story. While Michael Angelo has his own story for each artwork, it is his wish that each viewer sees his own story in the art. The meaning of the artwork is therefore also different from viewer to viewer and each story is therefore equally valid."
 
Michael Angelo Gagliardi
“In the end, this is what artist are, in our most basic form, we are all story tellers. It is my hopethat by telling someone stories with my art, I can provoke some new thoughts or feelings."