JosephGalvanStudio.com
Title
Joseph Galvan - Sculpting the Light
Contact
- JOSEPH GALVAN STUDIO
-
- LOS ANGELES CA
- United States 90034-5505
-
- 310 390 7940
Description
Mexican born artist, Joseph Galván Montelongo, arrived in sunny Southern California on January 2, 1972. Wide eyed and determined to become an artist, he enrolled in art classes at the Pasadena Community College and later the Design Art Center in Los Angeles. It became obvious to him that he conceptualized forms in 3-dimensional rather than 2-dimensional space. Although he enjoyed drawing, he found painting a flat medium, so he followed the sculptor's path.
While working as a technical illustrator at California Institute of Technology (Cal tech), he experimented with various materials ranging from carved wood, sculpted soap stone, marble, welded steel, plate and optical glass. His "discovery" of an intriguing and fascinating material occurred while watching a machinist drill multiple holes in a clear and brilliant block of malleable material that did not shatter as the drill bit penetrated it. When he asked what the material was, the machinist responded "Plexiglas, acrylic plastic." These simple words in Joseph's mind were translated into creative possibilities and launched his journey of discovery with optical acrylic as a medium.
Using solid acrylic as an artistic medium was not an easy path for a west coast artist in the 1970s. California arts and crafts movements favored objects made of "natural" materials like glass, wood, textiles, or clay. Yet with the friendly support of his fellow workers at Caltech, buying his very first creations, and with the initial success of selling out in one day at a local art show in Pasadena, Joseph felt confident to develop this medium and continue "sculpting the light" as he likes to put it.
