ARTIST

ARTIST STATEMENT

Searching for years to perfect my sculpting techniques has carried me away from my roots and family. Twelve years of migration and travel. Living in Pietrasanta, Italy (town of sculpture) has made me a sculptor. But not only this, it has also created in me a separation. This separation is at the base of my latest reflection. A permanent sense of being split, of missing a part of me. This for me is the baggage of an immigrant. A feeling that never abandons me, or better, from which I am never abandoned. This starts in me as a sense of separation that is not longer only geographic. It has become interior. A separation that has also become cultural, sexual and lives in me always. In taking apart a figure and putting back together again, I dramatize and at the same time exorcize this fastidious feeling. This feeling of being split. I take my work to a point where it becomes lighter and becomes almost a game. Through sharp features rich with influences from the classics, the middle ages. marbles, bronzes, wooden sculptures painted with warm colors. gold leaf, blue, red, pink, and antique patinas. All seen through my eyes… clear, foreign, enchanted, and entertained.

BIO

Roxana Casillas was born in Mexico City in 1964. At age 16 she moved with her family to San Diego, California. There she received her B.A. from San Diego State University. In 1993, after four years of living in Los Angeles she relocated to Pietrasanta, Italy. There she continued her studies in sculpture learning from the master artisans that specialized in marble carving. She continued her education in the marble studios of Palla Scultore, Frattelli Cacciatori and Bottega Versiliese. There she apprenticed under several important sculptors such as Novello Finotti, Franco Adami, Girolamo Ciula and Cinthia Sah. She specialized in sculpture commissions and at the same time she participated in exhibitions throughout Europe. Some of the projects she has realized are: Reiss Project, a private chapel in La Jolla, California in 2005. A tribute to Woody Herman with PBS for the Douglas Fairbanks Gardens in Los Angeles 2002. She also participated in some important sculpture symposiums such as Project Giotto for the G8 meeting in Genova, Italy. In 2006 she returned to live in the States.