Caz Azevedo
Lives and works in California
"I collect my materials from the natural landscape to collaborate with the body and space. The art performs through process, empowering the matter to guide my intentions of an idea, but allowing the work to evolve into what it was meant to be."
Caz Azevedo was born and raised on a small sustainable family farm just shy of four acres in the rural area outside of Lodi and Stockton, California. He has built an artistic practice based on growing up the child of working farmers whose interactions with the land formed the basis for everything. As an interdisciplinary artist his tool of choice is the body, yet he also prefers shovels, rakes, sticks, and hatchets. His favorite materials are natural, organic ones especially dirt and clay. When interacting with them, he thinks about how his body relates to the space and material. Through gestures he finds relationships among the rituals of farming and dance, and how we, and they, relate to the Earth and our previous generations. He uses video to capture the matter-flow, or the material in certain transitions from one state to another. He then layers other forms of performance into his art to complete his pieces. His movement interests are focused around instinct, muscle memory, and the sub-conscious, and his research and exploration comes from improvisational style dance: specifically, in Contemporary, Belly dance, Flamenco, and Butoh. Influencing artists include Ana Mendieta, Nuno Ramos, the Gutai Artists, Asco, and Unmata.
He has had solo exhibits at Hutchins Street Square, Lodi, CA (2005), and Phoenix Gallery, Sacramento, CA (2004), and has been curated in many group exhibitions in California including Biomythography, Cerritos College, Norwalk (2020), BLIP, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento (2019), Generation, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley (2018), and California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, Davis (2013, 2014).
Azevedo pursued higher education which has taken him on a journey from Sacramento City College to UC Berkeley for his dual bachelor’s degrees in Art Practice and History of Art (2017), and UC Davis for his Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art (2020). He has won several merit awards throughout his studies including the Fay Nelson Award, Davis, CA (2020), Mary Lou Osborn Award, Davis, CA (2019), Crocker Kingsley Award, Sacramento, CA (2015), Sasser Ceramic Award, Sacramento, CA (2015), and the Hopkins Art Endowment for Studio Art, Sacramento, CA (2014). He has been teaching art to the community since 2015.
Caz Azevedo was born and raised on a small sustainable family farm just shy of four acres in the rural area outside of Lodi and Stockton, California. He has built an artistic practice based on growing up the child of working farmers whose interactions with the land formed the basis for everything. As an interdisciplinary artist his tool of choice is the body, yet he also prefers shovels, rakes, sticks, and hatchets. His favorite materials are natural, organic ones especially dirt and clay. When interacting with them, he thinks about how his body relates to the space and material. Through gestures he finds relationships among the rituals of farming and dance, and how we, and they, relate to the Earth and our previous generations. He uses video to capture the matter-flow, or the material in certain transitions from one state to another. He then layers other forms of performance into his art to complete his pieces. His movement interests are focused around instinct, muscle memory, and the sub-conscious, and his research and exploration comes from improvisational style dance: specifically, in Contemporary, Belly dance, Flamenco, and Butoh. Influencing artists include Ana Mendieta, Nuno Ramos, the Gutai Artists, Asco, and Unmata.
He has had solo exhibits at Hutchins Street Square, Lodi, CA (2005), and Phoenix Gallery, Sacramento, CA (2004), and has been curated in many group exhibitions in California including Biomythography, Cerritos College, Norwalk (2020), BLIP, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento (2019), Generation, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley (2018), and California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, Davis (2013, 2014).
Azevedo pursued higher education which has taken him on a journey from Sacramento City College to UC Berkeley for his dual bachelor’s degrees in Art Practice and History of Art (2017), and UC Davis for his Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art (2020). He has won several merit awards throughout his studies including the Fay Nelson Award, Davis, CA (2020), Mary Lou Osborn Award, Davis, CA (2019), Crocker Kingsley Award, Sacramento, CA (2015), Sasser Ceramic Award, Sacramento, CA (2015), and the Hopkins Art Endowment for Studio Art, Sacramento, CA (2014). He has been teaching art to the community since 2015.
CURRICULUM VITAE
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All Images, text, and quote Copyright 2017 Caz Azevedo