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"It's been said that the only useful thing you can say to someone else about a powerful work of art is, 'Look at that!'" remarks Waterbury sculptor Eduardo Paredes. "My work is so much about how to look at things."
Paredes, who pursued a successful career as a commercial artist in New York City before moving to Connecticut several years ago to devote himself full time to mixed-media sculpture, returns to the Good News Cafe & Gallery with an eclectic and whimsical collection of new works composed of and inspired by the "found objects" of everyday life. From an "Elephant" sculpted from pieces of wood to a "Robot" that revolves and a pen-and-pencil "Teacher's Delight" tribute, Paredes presents a dizzying array of assembled creations that challenge the viewer to look at the commonplace and ordinary in an entirely new and often humorous way.
"Each piece is an invitation to look at these discarded, broken objects as if for the first time," the artist observes. "This is a sincere attempt to make art do the job of revealing the world as it is. My time spent in the studio working with these objects is a time of discovery and wonder.
"True creators put their desire, personality, skills and technique at the service of the form," he notes. "The form that inspires the art comes to the artist and demands that he be faithful to it in the process of creation."
A native of Ecuador who emigrated to the United States with his family in his teens, Paredes earned a bachelor's of fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1988, and began his career as a commercial artist and graphic designer in New York. His artistic passion has gained expression in his exploration of mixed-media sculptures that combine use of acrylics, oils, watercolors and color pencils with kaleidoscopic assemblages of found objects ranging from coins, pictures and jewelry to discarded toys and working radios. Three years ago he decided to focus his artistic efforts at his Waterbury studio on these creations that transform an eclectic array of ordinary things into fantastical works of art. His most recent works point to a new direction in his creations, incorporating light and motion in a new type of interactive sculptures.
Paredes has built a reputation as an innovative and imaginative art educator who has offered fine arts enrichment programs for students at all grade levels in Connecticut and New York schools. He seeks through these programs to offer insights into how to conceive, collect, organize and assemble artistic works from commonplace objects, and to provide students with the opportunity to create their own sculptures.
Paredes describes his artistic vision as a philosophy easily shared with adults and children alike: "If I have fun, people will see it. If they don't see that fun, I haven't done my job."
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