Chris Vivas

2010 Artist In Residence

Pareidolia

Artist Bio

"Over the past few years much of my work has been described as precarious, which I welcome. Being influenced by existential writers such as Nietzsche, Sartre, and Camus, I have been intrigued with the duality of strength and fragility found within human existence. Exploring how strength synthesizes to weakness and vice versa has led me to working in ceramic for several years.

Ceramics, being strong enough to used for space shuttles and yet delicate enough to shatter when dropped, functions as a perfect metaphor for the human condition. The human race is capable of such outstanding achievements, as the atomic bomb, but at the same time can mark our destruction.

First exploring this concept I studied at Stony Brook University, where I received support under professor Toby Buonagurio. Professor Buonagurio directed me to further my studies in Japan after I graduated in 2003. I attended The Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Shigaraki, Japan from 2004 into 2005.

Following my residency in Japan I returned to New York where I worked at Dowling College as the assistant technician and as the Artist in Residence at Stony Brook University’s Craft Center. In 2006 I entered graduate school at SUNY New Paltz to further my investigations of studying medium, aesthetics, and concept."

Currently, Chris resides and works on Long Island in New York State.

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