Lucia Gardiner - Mixed Media Artist
Lucia Gardiner is a mixed-media artist with a primary focus in printmaking and photomontage. Much of her work centers on the examination of preservation vs. deterioration, as well as society's relationship with tradition and womanhood. She is currently based out of Sweetwater New Jersey.
What may have started as a budding interest in retro magazines has become an obsession with the recontextualization of Kitsch. At one time, Academic Artists identified kitsch as 'low art', popular imagery made in poor taste with a close tie to consumerism and society's ever growing relationship with mass production. As we entered the 21st century, kitsch began and continues to
adjust into a post modernist experience : claiming ownership for its roots, daring to make fun of itself, and slyly accepting the relevancy of art without absolute reason.
This unwavering interest in accessibility and radical embrace of 'art for art's sake' is something that constantly propels my work and in turn, my understanding of the world around me.I am innately inspired by mediums that have found themselves at the low end of the material hierarchy. By creating from what I can find and what I have, I am able to connect with my intuitive nature for mark making. I feel art at its best is resourceful.
I have been critiqued for my, at times, 'gimmicky' use of nostalgia in my work. Some suggest preying on societies love for the past and familiarity is uninspired and crass. All I can say in response, is that I think it is important to differentiate
work that perpetuates outdated nostalgic ideologies, versus work that attempts to use the stylistic and aesthetic familiarity of nostalgia to question, critique, and even make fun of the inherent flaws of a lost time.
