Articles
TOMÁS LASANSKY

A unique perspective from a family art man
By Stewart Oksenhorn

Geronimo with Flag, acrylic on canvas

ASPEN — Tomás Lasansky was born into a privileged position in the art world. The members of the Lasansky family who are prominent in the arts only begin with his father, the Argentinean-born Mauricio Lasansky, who is considered one of the fathers of American printmaking.

The 50-year-old Tomás counts uncles and great-uncles on his mother’s side who were noted painters and sculptors, and five siblings who range from sculptors to arts professors to dancers. His paternal grandfather was not an artist, exactly — but he was so masterful as an engraver that the U.S. government brought him from his native Lithuania to Philadelphia, to print currency.

Beyond the artistic atmosphere that surrounded him, there was his perspective on it all. Lasansky is the youngest of six children — the oldest is some 20 years Tomás’ senior — and from that vantage point, art was not only a constant, it was fun and a way to bond with his family members. Lasansky says there was never any pressure on him to create; the word he uses is he was “invited” to work on the various projects undertaken in Iowa City, which the Lasanskys called home.

So at 4, Tomás helped one brother make a steel sculpture of a horse and rider 10 feet tall — big enough that, when it was sold, a wall had to be knocked out of the house to relocate it. Lasansky later spent 10 years helping his father make prints.

“Growing up was fabulous,” said Lasansky at Magidson Fine Art, where his first solo exhibit in Aspen opens Saturday, Feb 23. “We had this old Victorian house and everyone used it as a studio. I had a basement full of anything I wanted — pottery, wax, steel, prints. I used to hold classes for the neighborhood kids.”

Those surroundings have left Lasansky with some particular tendencies. For one, the diversity of his early influences is evident in his current exhibit. The show features paintings, drawings and prints, but each individual piece is a dynamic world in itself. One multimedia collage, “American Dignity,” is an image of an American Indian with elements of paint, pencil, and cut-up samples of Lasansky’s past prints. “Painted Face” incorporates bubble wrap and bamboo curtain. Several of the new paintings were made in a variation of Jackson Pollock’s drip style, except Lasansky actually threw the paint, and controlled the splashing enough to create large-scale images of Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein.

“I have more ideas than I have time to do them. I’m always trying to come up with different ways to do things,” said Lasansky, whose one boundary — so far — has been to stay in the field of representational work.

The array of solid materials from his childhood has also given Lasansky an affinity for texture. His work may appear flat — the current exhibit is all wall-hangings — but a close look reveals layers of thick paper, a technique where the paint is built up into three dimensions, and printed surfaces like wallpaper that suggest thickness. Currently, Lasansky has his eye on a laser machine that can cut through steel, allowing him to incorporate metal patterns into his work.

Lasansky is ambivalent toward printmaking. The traditional printing method, which results in a series of identical pieces, is too reminiscent of an assembly line. But printmaking, he says, is in his blood and when he spent a big chunk of time not long ago with his father, he was drawn to the printing studio. Lasansky made prints of Lincoln, but like his father, now 94, Tomás messed with tradition by moving the plates around and adding unique drawn elements to each piece.

Lasansky’s focus on iconic faces of people known for humanitarian deeds stems not from his early surroundings, but from a specific incident. For six years, his father worked on his Nazi Drawings, which eventually became part of the first exhibit at the new Whitney Museum in New York City, along with work by Louise Nevelson and Andrew Wyeth. The Nazi Drawings wreaked emotional havoc on his father. “It drained him so bad that after a few weeks, me and my brother and sister had to pose for him, so he could do something sweet,” said Lasansky.

It was another example of Lasansky’s unique perspective on making art.

“Being youngest helps,” he said. “You get to see everyone else’s mistakes.”

Tomás Lasansky: Paintings and Drawings opens Saturday, Feb. 23 with a reception from 5-8 p.m. at Magidson Fine Art Gallery, 525 E. Cooper Ave. The show runs through March 7.

 

THE ARTBOOK OF THE NEW WEST                                                              Fall/Winter 2006-07

Tomás Lasansky
Icon and Muses
Artist profile by Rory Lasansky

Tomas Lasansky lives and works in his Iowa City gallery and studio. He is a nocturnal creature, devoting nearly every night and sometimes the early hours of the morning to the canvas. His clothes that have been splattered and stained with paint and ink double as pajamas.  However, those who know the artist may assume that he never slept at all. He carries bags under his eyes and a head full of long unruly hair. Each of these features, which characterize Lasansky's daily appearance, is indicative of the passion he has for his craft. Lasansky is working on all occasions. The walls of his gallery are always covered with recently completed drawings, paintings and prints. Works in progress fill the studio along with numerous tubes of paint and trays full of sharpened colored pencils. Hand made paper purchased from a street market in Bangkok and even old prints and drawings are cut up and used for collage. Many of these materials are kept within arms reach of the
easel in order to maximize efficiency, and therefore the artist's ability to focus.

            In the last seven years Lasansky's work has gained a significant amount of notoriety in the Southwest. Original art of this quality has not been readily available since the glory days of artists such as Fritz Scholder,
David Johns and Paul Pletka. Many of his latest creations are shipped or personally delivered to various galleries and museums in Arizona and New Mexico. This is due to an ongoing series of American Indian portraits that have seized the attention of the public. Viewers are captivated by the visual and emotive power of Lasansky's work and his ability to illustrate such a sentimental subject matter. Onlookers can sense while gazing upon Lasansky's enthralling portraiture that his admiration for the plight of the Native American is whole-hearted and genuine. "Even as a youngster, I saw American Indians as strong, fiercely independent and loyal to their beliefs and traditions," said Lasansky. "Of course, when I learned about their history, the greater my empathy and passion became for their way of life. As an American, one who came along long after the Native American, the insensitivity and injustice that have been perpetuated on these people is the ghost that still lingers for me."

            For over a decade Lasansky's work has been influenced by his enthusiasm for American History and the significant figures of our nations past. In the gallery hanging next to a life-sized portrait of Geronimo or Sitting Bull one might find a drawing or print of President Abraham Lincoln, Walt Whitman or Picasso. "I've been truly inspired by our greatest leaders, artists and thinkers," stresses the artist. "However, I'll never be able to completely forgo the use of live models. The model is the muse that breaths new life into my work." Indeed, those who have followed Lasansky’s career from the beginning have seen him return to his models time and again for inspiration and invigoration.  Now, for the first time in the southwest, Lasansky offers, amongst his Native American and historical portraits, a collection of drawings dealing directly with the intimate connection between artist and model.

The artists will have his second exhibition at the West Valley Art Museum in Surprise, Arizona beginning on March 6th of 2007. This will coincide with a showing of recent works at the Faust Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

 

 Tomás Lasansky
New World Images, Old World Artistry
By Oriana Parker

                When Iowa native Tomas Lasansky sets out to paint the Native Americans he so admires, nothing is left to chance.  Classically trained, this artist creates "environments" for the proud Indians who eventually come to dwell amid his monumental-sized canvases. 

                 "It can take Tomas three weeks or more to prepare a canvas before an image takes  shape.  He meticulously builds up his surfaces with layer upon layer of texture --  sometimes as much as 1/4 of an inch thick -- working purely abstractly," points  out art historian David Heffner.  "Only after this process does he start to visualize the final image."

                  Oh, what images are celebrated by Lasansky's new paintings!  The horns of the Indian chieftain's headdress in "Nightfall" pierce the skyline, joining the haunting mesas and mountains.  Yet if the viewer blinks, the horns become part of a mysterious cattle skull, which then dominates the painting.  A geometric pattern cascades  across the Indian's painted face in "Reflection" while mounted figures embellish a ghostly background giving the canvas a three-dimensional aspect.  Resembling  a death's head, the subject's face in "Indian with War Bonnet" is stark white.   In a dramatic way, it indicates the battle's grim outcome and the eventual triumph of the white man.

                The three-dimensional, tactile aspect of these canvases no doubt derives from the painter's early training in ceramics.  The emotional power of the works can be  traced to his passion for Native Americans and their art.  "I grew up surrounded by Indian artifacts.  Even now, their weavings and pottery play an important role in my everyday life," says Lasansky.  The hands-on dedication to every last detail -- he stretches his own canvases, cuts his own mats, and builds his own frame --  must, in great part, be attributed to classical fine arts training and an Old World work ethic.  "You must have respect for the whole process; there are no short cuts," the painter stresses.  Nor is there any substitute for hard work.  "I don't wait for the muse to come and inspire me," exclaims Lasansky.  "My studio schedule is 24/7".  

               Akin to Andrew Wyeth, this painter comes from an artistic family.  (Unlike Wyeth, his artistic heritage can be traced back four generations to a sculptor in Spain.)  "More importantly, I grew up in a museum," says Lasansky.  "I was surrounded by fine art -- such as Picasso and Goya -- of the highest quality."

              Last March, when the United States went to war and the economy suffered, the artist's one-man show, at the Faust Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, was completely sold out. 

              This spring, Lasansky returns to Arizona with a one-man show entitled "Reflections: Pride and Dignity of the Native American", which will be on exhibit from January 27-March 7 at the West Valley Art Museum. "Tomas Lasansky has gone to a decisive extreme to explore reducing the components of his art to the most energetic, textural and color based, essential components," says David Tooker, Museum Curator.

              Scottsdale's Faust Gallery will welcome Lasansky back for a one-man show, slated for March 7-31.  "Keen perception coupled with deep empathy drive  Lasansky's art," points out Gallery Director Bill Faust. "Coupled with his unique talent, these qualities make the work some of the most compelling in Southwest  art today."

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