Ricardo Lanzarini, a world-renowned Uruguayan artist, has come from Montevideo to Syracuse to
recreate the mundane and the extraordinary in his drawings on delirium made to astonishing scales.
The Point of Contact Gallery, 914 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, has turned into an artist's studio in which
Lanzarini is integrating a group of students from Syracuse University's Department of Fine Arts in his
intense creative process that leads to the exhibition "The Gallery as Studio: Drawings on Delirium." The
opening reception-which is free and open to the public-is Thursday, March 19, at 6 p.m.
The exhibition will be on display through the summer. Lanzarini plans to return in early September for
the presentation of a book catalogue about the show and to perform an "erasure" of the work drawn
directly onto the walls of the gallery.
Lanzarini's work balances extremes of scale, crafting an extensive abstract image from precise,
miniscule characters, whose everyday activities serve as a window into a miniature world, frozen in
time. "My drawings are made up of crowds of tiny figures, small characters who are on an endless
pilgrimage," says Lanzarini, "an eccentric range that portrays the human condition with 'diminutive'
humor." These drawings sarcastically explore the two major paradigms in figurative art of the 20th
century: social and fantastic realism.
Even before completing his undergraduate studies, Lanzarini started to gain national and international
attention for his intricate drawings. He is recipient of a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship; a
grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Inc.; and first prize in the Third International Standards
Biennial in Tijuana, Mexico. Lanzarini's work has been shown in galleries and museums around the
world-from Dublin to Paris to New York-and has been featured on the cover of several prestigious
publications, including "Harper's Magazine."
Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact Inc. is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the exploration and
exchange of ideas in the verbal and visual arts. The corporation is dedicated to publishing, as well as
producing and documenting, special events that are generated in collaboration with Syracuse
University and the artistic and intellectual community locally, nationally and internationally.
The Point of Contact Gallery is a member of the Coalition of Museum & Art Centers at Syracuse
University (CMAC).
