Lawrence Berzon

About

Lawrence Berzon

Artist Statement:

The evolution of what I create began with my love of stories. I started out writing and illustrating my own narratives, which were always character driven. In these scenarios, single or multiple characters interacted with themselves or their surroundings, forming modern social allegories that both reflect on the human condition and conflate with the fantastical.

Eventually, the action unfolded from the page onto the wall as painted moments from the narrative. Two and three panel paintings conveyed the character development. These diptychs and triptychs now told the story.

Later, I discovered that making cast fiberglass frames for the individual panels of the diptychs and triptychs layered more twists and turns onto the story. Gradually, some of the frames’ sculpted elements moved inside the picture plane to create dioramas. The evolution continued its course….

A desire grew from these now three dimensional works towards literal movement. Animating the dioramas with motors, computer programs and, currently, cams- plus an original soundtrack- create a fully interactive audio-animatronic sculpture: The viewer is invited to engage the work hidden inside kiosks or pedestals, themselves adorned with carved reliefs and painted words and images. The depth and complexity of the animated performance within is revealed by the drop of a coin.