DANIEL LANZILOTTA - VIRTUAL GALLERY

Curated by Jonathan Shorr

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Lanzilotta’s environmental work is based on artistic expression using plastic ocean debris. Daniel has collected debris from the Bronx River, Orchard Beach and other Bronx environments. He collects debris all along Coastal Connecticut’s Long Island Sound. Daniel uses his art to engage his viewers to ponder their consumer habits contributing to plastic debris affecting our shared environments.

Daniel’s work is inspired and influenced by Gestalt Philosophy, specifically Kurt Koffka’s principle posit, “The whole is other than the sum of its parts”. Daniel’s “whole” invites the viewer to find increased value and richness in the common and mundane. The world has become plasticized. He rescues this debris from landfills, oceans, beaches and other waterways. He recoups wasted, discarded materials. Daniel repurposes insignificant items and gives them a new purpose. Significance. Beauty. A new vision.

Daniel uses a principle of Gestalt Theory called: Functional Fixedness. What use does an object have other than its intended purpose he asks? He manipulates elements to recreate objects of intrigue, conversation and discovery. The most insignificant piece of debris becomes “other than itself”. In return, he hopes the viewer becomes “other” than themselves. Daniel wants the viewer to discover beauty in cast-off items of the insignificant by using design, composition, ornamentation, color, form, movement and dynamic juxtaposition of materials. Faithfully foraging materials from the crevices of the earth, the self-titled ‘Plastician’ modifies and welds his findings, spotlighting potential of plastic waste and fragments of litter.

“In the American culture, we’ve lost track of what something [really] is.”

Daniel Lanzilotta, has been materializing his artistic vision by collecting debris, rubbish, and plastic waste for the past twenty-two years.

One thing he doesn’t lack is mindfulness, which led him to honor both his artistic whims and deepest convictions beginning in his early twenties. His simplistic philosophy was born on a trip to the beach with his young son, where he was jolted by the prevalence of shoreline garbage. This was when he came to see the potential in these castaway items, and when he decided to use them in order to bring “greater significance to the seemingly insignificant.” Marine-like installations adorn the walls of his atelier in Biarritz, France and Bridgeport, Connecticut where he showcases the “greater significance” of debris.

With a cacophony of collected materials and an espresso close by, he begins the romantic rescue of his chosen rubbish. Armed only with a toolbox and a steady hand, Daniel has no idea how his next piece will turn out. The materials themselves seem flattened out, yet filled with ideas – to him, even the most miniscule pieces of plastic are absolutely essential, giving and uniquely perfect.

One of his most prized pieces is entitled “Hat for Late Summer”. The piece incorporates discarded plastics, Starbucks stirrers, copper wire, yarn, broom bristles, Ikea plastic sheets, bottles, containers, and oyster netting. At his show in Biarritz, the starkly lit piece casts a secondary effect on the wall and floor in its silent shadow. What Daniel does is important because it commemorates the seasons of the soul, drawing connections between ourselves and objects. His art is not only for us. It is not only a marker of his own understanding, but a map for those who follow after us.

Early Life:
Daniel wound up at Carnegie Mellon on a full scholarship studying technical theater. At his audition in San Francisco, he showcased his handmade miniature stage, complete with fully functional lighting equipment. Cooking professionally while studying, he decided to officially add chef and stage technician to his resume and began to take “the artist’s journey.” Family and friends thought it impractical as they watched him sniff at everything to see what it was. But this was the critical cycle of finding his soul, and after graduation he began to understand himself in greater artistic dealings of both life and death. The parallels of this dynamic led him to faithfully forage materials from shorelines in the states and abroad.  In solidarity, he breathed soul into these so-called gathered bones by twisting, molding, welding, and restoring them into something new. He called it art. He called it sculpture.

Many sculptures and other pieces followed. He crafted jewelry of all sizes from not only oceans, but street debris – found copper, wood, fabrics, metals, all assembled in a compassionately rendered orchestration. Much like the body lives by the mechanisms of cell and tissue matter, Daniel’s Kafka-esque posit is that the mind’s demanding nature is comprised of precious thoughts and feelings which are essential parts of a complex system of dynamic relationships.

He is a Bronx 200 artist. Daniel is also a classically trained chef and has a culinary arts degree from The New York Restaurant School. He currently owns and operates Leap Foods a private dinner party and events service.