Inverna Lockpez

EXHIBITION STATEMENT
Inverna Lockpez

How many times have you stepped into the ocean waters and let the waves carry you into a dream? 

This exhibition is about the visionary impact that the ocean, old wooden boats, and diving birds have produced in the artist.

The vastness of the water and the infinity of the horizon convey the significance of water as one of earth’s most valuable natural resources, while the boats are rendered with dignity to elicit a sense of admiration and care.  The austere simplicity and expressionistic techniques used on the birds is to portray personality-like qualities. 

Nevertheless, the isolation of the boats in the landscape appear mysterious.  Do they evoke calm or memories of days on foreign shores?  Do they speak of waiting to be rescued, or do they display hope and pleasure?  Sometimes the boats are blonde like honey and the sea turns blue with a comparative softness that offers solace and quietness.

Inverna believes that for a work of art to be harmonious, every element must have a purpose.  Behind a simple composition there are dozens of rejections.  Art is not about replicating the world, but rather, creating a reality all its own.

All of Inverna’s paintings have an individual mood yet they all share a vocabulary of formal and technical effects. Gestural brushwork, thick impasto and colors are signifiers of emotional moments.  By transforming the actual reality into the formal context of a work of art, her aim has been to fuse the tension inherent in human arts and the beauty of nature.

Lockpez was born in Cuba, an island of eternal spring, emerald mountains, and turquoise waters where life took place outdoors all the time.  She emigrated to New York in the late sixties and made Manhattan her hometown. 

Inverna was a sculptor for years creating outdoor pieces and later became a conceptual artist, but paintings depicting ecological concerns attracted her and her narrative became more representational.

Years later, she was in the process of writing a book, “Cuba My Revolution,” when she realized she needed the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the heat of Florida afternoons to reconstruct her young adult life in Cuba.

While working on “Cuba My Revolution,” Lockpez realized she needed the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the heat of Florida afternoons to reconstruct her young adult life in Cuba so she left New York and has been living in Flagler County now for more than ten years. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Inverna Lockpez was born in Cuba where she attended medical school at the University of Havana, studied painting and sculpture at the National Academy of San Alejandro and printmaking at Taller de Gravado. She emigrated to New York in the late sixties and made Manhattan her home where she attended the School of Social Work at Columbia University and the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

During the 1970s, Lockpez primarily focused on sculptures and won many awards and commissions. Her work was exhibited widely at venues including the Pratt Institute in New York and the Aldrich Museum in Connecticut.  She also created graphic design posters that were published by the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and designed sets and costumes for various theaters. She then returned to painting and her work was exhibited at more than 80 venues, among them, C.W. Post; Artist’ Space; 55 Mercer Street Gallery; Art in General; El Paso Museum of Fine Arts and Kentler International Drawing Space.

Lockpez received various grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); (two) Creative Artist Public Service; CETA Award; (two) CINTAS Foundation Fellowship; Volgeltein Foundation and (two) Roxbury Arts Groups – NYSCA, Decentralization Grants.

Lockpez has published two books: “Cuba, My Revolution,” and “The Noble Barn,” both available on Amazon. 

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