ALLAN CYPRYS
ARTIST BIO
Yonkers based sculptor, Allan Cyprys was born in New York City. He studied sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, The New School and in the south of France. Cyprys uses a variety of mediums to express himself. When working in wood, he creates sculptural images that reflect his continual fascination with modern architecture and the human figure. His philosophy of “less is more” helps him to create shapes and forms that capture the essence of a structure and/or the human figure. In 1992 he received an honorarium from the City of Allentown, PA, to create a site specific sculpture for their annual Mayfair Sculpture in the Park.
His out-door sculpture has also been shown in temporary public art exhibitions at Rockaway Beach, Highbridge Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Flushing Meadows Corona Park through the NYC Parks & Recreation as well as at Mathews Park, City of Norwalk, CT and McLevy Park, Bridgeport, CT.
Cyprys has also been working with the medium of collage to express his thoughts about environmental and social issues. In 2009 he received an Artist Alive Artist Grant from ArtWestchester with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts for his project “Westchester’s Fantasy Landscape in the Year 2059”.
As a faculty member of Christopher Columbus HS, Bronx, NY, he was a receipient of a teaching grantee from the Storm King Art Center Outreach Grant Program (1987) for his sculptural program at the school. His work has also been exhibited at the Hammond Museum & Japanese Stroll Garden, North Salem, NY, Akin Library and Museum, Pauling, NY, Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, New Jersey City University, Jersey City, NJ as well as in galleries in New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA and Toronto, Canada.
Some of Cyprys' commissions include: Chubb & Sons, Inc., Warren, NJ, Booth Memorial Medical Center, Flushing, NY, The Grand Hyatt Hotel, NYC, and the Hackensack Medical Center, Hackensack, NJ.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In my new series, Connected, I was intrigued by how almost everyone in some way in America is connected to the web. I wanted to capture this flow of energy from the people to the web in space. To express this sense of connection, I create flowing lines and circular like patterns with the media of colored pencil, ink and/or marker.
From different media, I chose human figures that have fascinating poses. I then enlarged, and cut-out these figures in silhouette form from random colored line paper. Lastly, Ifolded the figure to make it three-dimensional. The figure is attached to the colored pattern paper which then becomes a moment in time and space where visually the two are connected.
In my series, “A Field of Vision”,I bring together two mediums on which I have been independently working, wood and collage. Gluing horizontal and vertical strips of balsa wood together, I create repetitive rectangular shapes that act like windows for viewing. Each of these structures are mounted on a wooden base which brings about a vantage point for what’s beyond.
Beyond is the collage (abstract scenic setting) which is attached to the back of the base. The collage part of the sculpture is made of cut-up photographs that I have taken or found in magazines. I layer these pieces of paper creating different color patterns that seta certain mood or feeling.
In creating my sculptural collage for Portrait Heads, I use a life size scale of the human head to pay homage to the caretakers of our planet, the common man. Using the medium of collage, I ‘m able to create a kaleidoscope of color, patterns and forms. In creating each of the faces, I fold the paper in different directions to give them some dimension as well as a sense of character.