Lorenzo M. Duran

Lorenzo M. Duran

Arbol

Species: Catalpa Bignonioides

25cm X 20cm

2010

Bio - Lorenzo Duran was born in Spain in 1969. At 36 years old, he discovered his passion for art and nature after becoming unemployed. This unemployment caused a period of self-reflection resulting in his decision to pursue a life of art. He started with paint on a canvas, but drew inspiration from a caterpillar to begin leaf cutting. He developed his own technique and soon began to collect leaves from his house and park and press them and cut with his scalpel to make his artwork.

Artist Statement- “Inspired by a caterpillar I decided to cut plant leaves the same way as other artists do with paper, that idea captivated my whole mind because it looked like a great opportunity to combine two of my true passions: art and nature. Due to the lack of information about the "leaf cutting art" I have developed my own technique, going through a long trial-and-error process until I found a good way of cutting my designs without spoiling the leaf. I use a surgical scalpel to cut the figure, removing the plant tissue until the image, previously drawn on paper and fixed to the leaf, appears. My geometric or figurative designs mostly come from my innate observation of nature and the personal metamorphosis I have gone through in recent years.” -Lorenzo M. Duran

Background - Duran’s Arbol was created from a leaf as a means of showing inner nature’s beauty, hence the tree being cut on the inside of the leaf. It also shows how nature itself spawns more beauty, with the tree giving off the leaves that he cutting in artworks.

Arbol really shows the fragile state nature is in, in our world. The leaf is a such a small and delicate part of nature and Arbol really produces this idea. The delicate nature of the leaf and the complications and ease in which the artist can destroy or damage his piece with just one small misuse of his hand is reminiscent of how easy it is for humans to destroy and damage nature through anthropocene and human misuse.