Combining the elements of light, video projection and an installation of hand-painted images, Cal State L.A.’s studio art major Dominic Quagliozzi (Burbank resident) eclectically blends on canvas his research-based art on body awareness and technology’s effect on human physicality.
“Using any medium necessary,” said Quagliozzi, “my work delves into issues of bodily confrontation, health and disease, the breakdown of public versus private space, and temporality of situations.”
Quagliozzi’s research presentation, entitled “There is a Yesterday,” analyzed in depth the concepts, technical aspects and/or visual presentations of artists Vito Acconci, Bob Flanagan, Maria Lassnig, Tony Oursler and James Turrell in relation to his work. He explained, “These artists form a foundation of work that incorporates methods of technology and its effects on the body, their body and the mental states of awareness that results.”
A recipient of this year’s Phi Kappa Phi Travel Award presented during the University’s annual Symposium on Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity, Quagliozzi said, “With so many cut-backs across the country in art and music, I was so grateful Phi Kappa Phi felt my project was worthy of recognition through a generous grant. I am very proud to receive this award, which acknowledges creative endeavors and research scholarship within the academic community.”
Quagliozzi, who worked with Art Professor Mika Cho on his presentation, also recently won first place in the graduate division of the Creative Arts and Design category at the 26th Annual CSU Student Research Competition in Long Beach.
“I have observed Quagliozzi’s extraordinary commitment to his art and research. He is an ideal graduate student any professor desire to have,” said Cho. “He works hard, is capable of performing beyond expectations, and is articulate, incisive and respectable. I am more than proud to see his efforts and hard-work rewarded with this prestigious award.”
Quagliozzi’s passion for art started when he was a kid, and he demonstrated an early ability to draw. Later, in high school, he discovered painting to not only be an artistic outlet, but a creative form of communication. “I was born with Cystic Fibrosis, a genetic lung disease, which I tried to conceal most of my life, but it always came out in the art I made,” he said. “Now, I put it all together and really use art language to speak about issues of my body, medical technology, communication and how it all affects our bodies and our minds.”
Quagliozzi currently serves on the exhibition committee for the COMA Gallery, a student-run gallery space in the Fine Arts building at CSULA that features art projects by graduate and undergraduates students on a weekly basis. He was also one of four graduates selected to participate in last year’s Luckman Project, an exhibition titled “Here Tomorrow, Gone Today.”
Additionally, he has exhibited in group shows at Pharmaka Gallery, Cerritos College, and Found Gallery LA. He has co-curated a group show, “Tel-Art-Phone,” with Coagula Art Journal’s Matt Gleason at the Beacon Arts Building in Inglewood. Quagliozzi earned his B.A. in sociology with a minor in painting from Providence College, Providence, RI.
After graduating from CSULA this coming spring with a MFA in studio art, he plans to continue with his studio practice as an artist, applying for artist residencies in the area and for art teaching positions at the undergraduate level.
“Working with Professor Cho has really given me the opportunity to organize my work into research and practice. She has been great to work with because of her knowledge and experience in developing a strong area of intellectual research that informs and strengthens my studio practice as an artist,” noted Quagliozzi.
“Also, other CSULA professors, Tim Ebner, Elizabeth Bryant, Richard Wearn and Luis Bermudez, have been extremely supportive of my work. They have all given me the space to make work of my own voice, yet the guidance to focus and contextualize the work.”
