A PDF of Gene Provenzo’s academic vita can be reached by clicking on below:
Provenzo Resume Revised January 2019
A web-based copy included at the end of this website can be linked to here
Artist’s Statement
I am a recently retired university professor (University of Miami 1976-2013). Although my main work has been as an educational historian and cultural theorist, art and design have been constants in my professional life. Beginning in the late 1970s, I began to work on various projects involving innovative toy design, book design, the creation of museum exhibits, as well as multimedia and video game development. Separate from my professional work, and inspired by the 1980 retrospective exhibit of the work of Joseph Cornell (1903-1972) at the Museum of Modern Art, I began to work as a collage and assemblage artist. Throughout my academic career I would occasionally be invited to exhibit some of my pieces. A high point for me early on was the exhibit in 1979 of my system of “Golden Mean Blocks” at the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Having retired from research and teaching, I am now devoting myself to working full-time as an artist. I consider myself to be part of an outsider art tradition. I am essentially self-trained. My work is eclectic and integrative. I use both traditional techniques and found materials. Much of my inspiration is historical. I draw deeply on linguistic and cultural tropes ranging from modes of play to representation in popular culture sources such as television, comic books and mass circulation magazines. There is a consciously developed narrative quality in much of my work.