Guest lecturer from San Diego, CA, Roman de Salvo shared his interesting body of work at SJSU today. De Salvo enjoys playing with ideas as well as the visual. In a piece titled, "Firewood," he uses firewood as a depiction of its own device. It is evident he enjoys what he does. He said he feels a little more alive when he is smiling or laughing. De Salvo is a conceptual artist who uses systems of energy, nature or electricity to engage the viewer. He often incorporates the element of surprise as well as irony.
When we come upon a large scale outdoor sculpture titled, "Liquid Ballistic," we see it as a beautifully crafted cannon made of mahogany. It is when we notice there are handle bars on the cannon and we find that we can sit upon the interactive piece. . It acts as a see-saw and as we move up and down, we are surprised by the shooting out of water that we have had a part in.
From couches made of duct tape and filled with polyurethane to a hundred foot long flowing eucalyptus that hangs above Cal Trans in San Diego, De Salvo plays with our minds, gives us new and delightful perspectives of things we've never before imagined and turns wood and the mundane into conceptual craziness that will make anyone smile. Please visit his website at Romandesalvo.com.
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