Statement

MARGARET LANZETTA uses abstract, culturally significant pattern to explore larger issues of language, political power, spirituality, and migration. While New York-based, Lanzetta has lived/worked globally: India, Japan, Southeast Asia, North Africa, and Europe. Thus influenced, Buddhism, Islamic architecture, nature, world trade and industry are persistent inspirations. Geometric and botanical imprints link disparate cultures and geographic regions. Digital technology is combined with printmaking; silkscreening, stamping and glossy enamels create layered, tactile surfaces.

Lanzetta has exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Queens Museum Biennial. International exhibitions: the Kochi Biennale Collateral Projects, India; the National Museum, Bangkok, Thailand (pop-up exhibition); 2nd Bloom, Singapore; Famous Ornament, Tokyo; Rome, ATP Gallery, London; and the Stockholm Independent Art Fair. Awards include three Fulbright Fellowships to Asia and Europe; three residencies at the MacDowell Colony; the Ucross Foundation; the British Academy in Rome; Greenwich House Pottery; Dieu Donné Papermill; and a permanent commission for the New York subway. Lanzetta received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her works are held by the Museum of Modern Art, NY; the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Yale University Museum; and the Harvard Museums. Lanzetta press has appeared in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, ArtCritical.com, Two Coats of Paint, and several Indian/Asian online and print venues. Lanzetta divides her studio time between New York and various international studios.

Reign Marks series

“Repeatedly stamped seals or “reign marks” historically symbolized power.. Here, fragmented motifs of Byzantine and Arabic heritage are painted as palimpsests of geometric design. These rhythms conjure moments of transformation and cultural migration. Trance-inducing repetitions create tension, visual interest and patterns”. -Colette Apelian, Art Historian, Rabat, Morocco

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