Artist In Focus
Bobby Zokaites
Bobby Zokaites is a sculptor skilled in a variety of materials with a wealth of experience producing large scale works for private and public spaces. His distinctive works foster new and dynamic relationships between community, site, history and the natural environment. Blurring the line between fine art, public sculpture, and collaborative practices, his work engages diverse audiences, humanizes public spaces, and often encourages participation with larger-than-life-sized artwork. Zokaites earned his BFA at New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University (2008) and his MFA in Sculpture at Arizona State University (2014). A collection of his woven work was recently on solo exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum (2023), and he has permanent public art on display across the valley, in Hawaii, and, soon, in Idaho. It is integral to Zokaites' practice that his work connects residents to one another and their community in new ways, creating new and lasting experiences.
The Weavings:
I call myself a sculptor, which means that I specialize in material and fetishize process. While I often use the material language of permanent public art—steel and polyurethane—to create durable, large-scale outdoor forms, I also sew and weave with lighter materials like fabric, rope, and paracord. At the studio, increased access to industrial processes and a deeper study of colloquial craft methodologies has led to innovative looms constructions and a greater complexity in the weave pattern. I am endeavoring to combine these aesthetics into a new visual vernacular that harkens back to the childhood notion of ‘play’, evoking a sense of joy, wonder, and catharsis.
Artist In Focus
David Pennington
David is an Arizona resident artist since 1977 working as both a
painter and collage artist. Over the past 10 years he has focused
on panoramic strip collage that are currently featured as an Artist
in Focus at Dialog Phoenix.
He was a Bisbee AZ resident during the 1980’s with the balance
of his time living in Tucson. Art work has been exhibited in
museum, gallery and art centre venues in Arizona, Southern
California, Colorado and Texas.
Western 6 Pack
This collage work examines the relationship between western
themes including masculine identities and their presence in an
abstract and fantasy world. The strip format adds an element of
time to the viewers engagement and can be read in a filmic
sense.
The imagery is drawn from multiple sources, processed digitally,
transferred to paper and used in traditional analog cut and paste
collage work. The dialogue is also collected from multiple sources
and recombined into loose and at times oblique narrative.
The works are individually unique and not subject reproduction as
prints or other forms.