Art Quench Gallery Announces Aimee Cozza the WINNER of the April International Juried “Color”
Art Competition!
We would like to Welcome Aimee to the Art Quench family! Aimee has won One Year of representation with Art Quench Gallery.
Art is sort of a thing that runs in my family. Creativeness flows through our veins, I suppose you could say. My mother was always very talented and crafty; I remember having vibrant birthday parties themed out to whatever I wished. Nevermind the branded paper plates, cups, and napkins. If I wanted an underwater party, the dining room was decked out with brilliant seahorses painted on the french doors entering into the kitchen, blue-green and turquoise streamers twirled and hanging from the ceiling, bunched together like seaweed, and always magnificent homemade cakes.
My mother would draw little pictures on folded in half letter sized paper of rooms she wished to have and how they would be decorated. I remember her planograms of the garden and each new interior design she had. Sometimes we would get pictures on our lunch bags or in our lunch boxes of dogs, dragons, fish, frogs, princesses, anything.
I always liked drawing. I have a vast collection of my works when I was very young of the usual: animals and sorely drawn people. Sometimes I would go outside and observe nature, catching bugs and drawing them. I had numerous drawings of water bugs and beetles and butterflies. I’d draw our pets such as much betta fish Spot.
It wasn’t until we moved when I realized I had a serious knack for artwork. I suppose it was being so far removed from everything you know that can force you to realize things about yourself. I kept in touch with a friend of mine and together we explored some of the old japanese animation art. From there I just wanted to get better and better. My father installed my first copy of Photoshop on my little beige computer and I drew tediously with my mouse, trying out layers and opacities for the first time at age twelve.
From there it just kept going. I begged to use the scanner all of the time, so my father brought me home my own scanner. And my own machine to scan on. And I learned what file formats were good and which weren’t, and what a resolution was and how I should use it, and how I should color and how I shouldn’t. In high school, we were required to complete a senior project which outlined something we may want to do for a career. I chose art and drew every single day. I labeled every day and filled two binders full of double-sided letter sized works.
It wasn’t until I curiously enrolled myself in a figure drawing class did I realize I wanted to become at least somewhat formally educated. Gesture drawing and drawing from life came very easy and naturally to me, and my teacher saw that in me and mentored me into enrolling the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Last year I completed my degree, and although it took a little longer than four years, I feel I’ve taken away a lot and know how I can continue to grow and learn.
My final project for my senior year in college was titled “The Traveler.” This series from a storytelling perspective follows an anonymous astronaut that flies through space exploring new worlds and a variety of cosmic anomalies. The literal interpretation is easy to see through my usage of somewhat comic-book-like narrative visuals, although the underlying ideals are still present. The Traveler is a forever lost individual seeking out a path, never quite sure if they have made it there or not. Beautiful things and horrendous things line the journey, but each one is a piece to a whole.
WINNING IMAGE “Nebulaic”
MORE ON AIMEE…
Bio/Statement: “My illustrative works vary through a range of digital and traditional means to create a complex system of layered, textural effects that echo the diverse conceptual meanings behind them. Although often saturated and ‘light’, they often reveal a hidden agenda and display a darker meaning. Most often, these meanings evoke feelings of loneliness or sadness, despite the candied exterior.
Often, in these pieces, a single character exists in the environment around them. These characters exist as distinctly removed individuals which causes a schism between person and place, only connected by an environmental conversation through emotion or interaction. These individuals explore a vivid world where comfort and trust is only found in the world about them, and the realization of beauty in the dissonance invokes this feeling.
These concepts of beauty versus ugliness form a certain duality of extremes of emotion, forming a sense of loneliness and endearment at the same time. This tension of placement and person causes the viewer to pause and contemplate the weighted reality of these ideas and their placement in their everyday lives.”
Aimee Cozza is a freelance illustrator from the Southern New Hampshire region. She retains a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree majoring in illustration granted from the New Hampshire Institute of Art.
Originally from the Boston area, Aimee attended the Manchester college with bright hopes to continue honing her skills. Since graduating, she has been working towards refining her skills, and finds she will forever be learning.
Aimee currently creates bright, vivid pieces, usually digitally, for a variety of uses. She enjoys creating standalone works as well as series. She also enjoys creating graphic novels and comic books (or “sequentials”), skateboard deck graphics, and more.
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