Carole Caroompas

Hester And Zorro: In Quest of a New World: Ladies, Gentlemen, Master, Servant

2000

Daniel Fiorda in this new series of sculptures, continues in many ways the themes that have infused his previous work. For the last several years, Fiorda has dealt with technology, obsolescence, with the trail of discarded tech that humanity leaves behind and what it says about us. The new work takes this thematic one step further. These new wall pieces feature barely concealed found objects, almost fully engulfed by concrete, and yet still eerily discernible: industrial gears, computer keyboards, objects that evoke industrial post-digital eras. This piece is a set of 3 artworks that showcases a video editing keyboard on a white background, embedded in resin and they can be arranged for display in a variety of layouts. They come ready to hang with hanging hardware and they are signed by the artist on verso. Art measures 7 x 7 x 1.75 in (each) The overall sense is dystopian rather than apocalyptic. In Fiorda’s previous work, found objects were displayed as if unearthed from a bed of clay by a tacit anthropologist, perhaps decades into the future. A typewriter would be partially buried by dry soil and weathered by the passing of time. The underlying narrative was that of a future civilization unearthing the objects left by ours. Destruction or extinction was implied. In the new work, the obsolete technology is not found but rather engulfed by a new technology. Concrete, as a material and as a technology, has the capabilities to fully encase and envelope. In Fiorda’s new work, uniformity and the appropriation of old/new technology into new structures suggests a historical and technological challenge right around the corner, mirroring the ones in our recent past: the digital age fully replacing the analog world. These astounding sculptures, with embedded objects, are here to examine closely, and make connections between theme, material, and shape. Daniel Fiorda was born in 1963 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of Italian ancestry, his lineage includes a grandfather highly respected as a wood craftsman, also his father was a craftsman in addition to being a musician and poet. Because a privileged life was not his, there was no university for Fiorda. In the Old World tradition of passing on knowledge from parent to child, he learned about machinery form his father, who recognized his son's talent and encouraged it. With some private tutoring, he began sculpting in high school using found objects. The press reviews of his first exhibit, at age 20, stated that Fiorda had a definite “poetic feeling”. With this encouragement, he continued to pursue his art. After leaving Argentina, he arrived in Miami Beach via a circuitous route and set up his studio in the South Florida Art Center. He has exhibited widely throughout the US including the OK Harris Gallery, Allan Stone Gallery in New York as well as the Heriard Cimino Gallery in New Orleans, Lélia Mordoch Gallery in Paris France and Lilac Gallery in New York City. Daniel was one of the winners in the 7th Annual Sculptures Competition (2003) held at Washburn University in Topeka , Kansas. Selected on the inaugural 2006 Palm Beach International Sculpture Biennale, and exhibited for the 3rd time in Sculpture Key West. He is an alumni Artist of ArtCenter/South Florida. Two Pieces from his “Convertible Couch projects...

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