Your Wish is My Command
1997, mixed media
96" x 43" x 36"
I
consider myself lucky. Every day is spent working in my studio.
There is no where I would rather be and nothing I would rather do. Though
my art, I construct a world of memory, humor, and stories. Best of
all I get to live in that world and invite others in. My live and
art are best when on a continuous roll, including everything I desire:
Love, Happiness, Good Friends, Success, and a Working Concrete Mixer
" I have been stockpiling junk, images, and ideas for years, and and in the past 10 years it has all come together in a totality," says Judy Onofrio. "My art, environment, and life have merged as one."
This
declaration is not taken lightly from an artist who has worked in forms as
diverse as ceramics, soft sculpture, fiber art, installation, and performance
over the course of thirty years. "I made a lot of art before I
made my own." Onofrio's artistic homecoming coincides with the
building of a new studio, which opens to her hillside backyard.
Immediately, she began filling the three-acre site with mosaic-encrusted
shrines, benches, and environments. Dubbed "Judyland" the
garden is a natural extension of Onofrio's studio work: sturdy mixed-media
sculptures lavishly embellished with ceramic, glass, shell, tin, and
assorted found objects follies which the artist, an avid collector,
gathers at flea markets. "My work is figurative. Women with red
lipstick, and men with green hats, apples, snakes, fish, and flowers all
live in a garden fantasy, passion and desire."
Largely self-taught, Onofrio takes inspiration from visionary artists, such as Simon Rodai, who built Watts Tower. And interestedly enough, Judyland is not only a culmination of productive life in art, but something of a legacy. Onofrio's great aunt Trude, a southern "outsider" artist, worked in a similar fashion some fifty years ago, creating a garden strewn with beautiful, idiosyncratic art.
Bush Artist Fellows 1998 - Bush Foundation