THIS IS NOT A PEAR IN CLEVELAND-Ricardo Azziz 1983-2013 Works on Paper

THIS IS NOT A PEAR IN CLEVELAND-Ricardo Azziz 1983-2013 Works on Paper presents a 30 year retrospective depicting select works by Ricardo Azziz, visual artist in the traditional surrealist thematic, as he terms it. A thematic that readily leverages the artist s immigrant, insider-outsider, and human health and disease experience to represent and illustrate the absurdity of the conflictiveness and contrasts of our world. Works range from early stark pen and black ink works on paper, to later collages aggregations, such as the American series, to more recent works using mixed media and ample splashes of color overlaying found objects and the automatism of design. Facial features are generally not depicted in an attempt to express the various emotions through representations of other anatomical parts. In keeping with the original surrealist period in the Western world works with collage use primarily late 19th C. and early 20th C. material. The book is richly and finely illustrated, with 64 full color images, each accompanied by a brief text vignette highlighting the thought, inspiration, or impression underlying the piece.