Torkos’ Statement
“Creating unique collages fulfills my need to express my knowledge, technical skills and imagination. My art education was self-directed, as I took every class I thought would be interesting. Through the years I created realist art in various mediums, utilizing the fundamental art skills I acquired along the way. For me, it was a natural progression to venture into collage, and my background heavily influences the painterly feel in them.
Creating my collages are like putting together a puzzle, but one that you need to create the individual pieces. Its challenging and fascinating as I see each collage evolve. From afar, my collages resemble paintings, but get closer and you see paper mosaics filled with images, words and phrases.
My work embodies my philosophy of life, that not everything is as it appears at first glance. It is often when you slow down, look closer, and get more intimate, that you find the rich meaning in your life. In that vein, I love to give my viewers a chance to look a bit more, to suspend their belief for a bit, and ‘see’ something quite different from what they thought they would see.”
Analysis
Gina Torkos’ statement is the longest one I think I’ve seen! Most artists stick to a paragraph or two, but Torkos writes a full three paragraphs to describe her work. I think it’s appropriate though; the unique nature of the collages needs a bit more explaining when most people expect to see oils or acrylics. I appreciate that Torkos creates an analogy for her process and equates it to “putting together a puzzle.” This not only helps give her audience a sense of how she creates her work, but it also leads into the “philosophy of life” she explains in her last paragraph. Torkos wants her audience to slow down and try looking at things from a new perspective, and this (besides the length) is what makes her statement stand out: she expresses what she wants her audience to do! Artist statements aren’t a very persuasive medium, but Torkos uses hers to influence her audience to take another look at her work. My other samples may indirectly make their audiences react in a new way to the related art, but this is the only one that directly influences the audience to look again.