When you are moneyless you have to be creative in your endeavors to make ends meet. Its fitting Teo “Moneyless” Pirisi is drawn to the cycle where two ends meet to create infinite symmetry …the perfect circle. Art movements also move in cycles and artists often move within circles.

Moneyless, much like many of his contemporizes is motivated and inspired by being outside… in his case, outside in nature, outside of categories and often outside of the edges of his own canvas.

It is said that perception is reality; in his outdoor installations he strides to play with others perception in order to keep reality up on trial.  You can see it when a law enforcement officer tries to decide if a crime has been committed, when a passer-by tries to digest how a Geometric shape is floating in space, or when a photographer walks around in circles trying to decide what is the front of the piece.

His works within the studio also embody a duality that challenges the relationship between perception and actuality. His pieces almost appear to offer a divinity in their perfection yet a closer look reveals they are made up of brutality honest and unapologetically raw manual etchings. The reasoning behind this juxtaposition seems to be revealed in the shows title, “Per Aspera Ad Astra,” which translates from Latin to mean “through the hardships the stars”. It seems as if Moneyless has discovered two distant extremes can create a balance if they connect in the right place.

All photos and text by Todd Mazer

The show opens at Soze Gallery, Los Angeles, on August 18, 2012.

MONEYLESS

“Per Aspera Ad Astra”

Opening 8.18.12 7:30-9:00

SOZE Gallery

652 Mateo Street, #107

Los Angeles, CA 90021