George Vitorovich

George Vitorovich is a mixed-media artist. He uses drawing, printmaking, toning and photography to create works on paper and wood. His family were immigrants from Europe and he was born and raised in New York City. His work has been strongly influenced by his father’s folklore tales and the illustrations in European children’s books, playful yet dark images combining collage and drawing. These laid the foundations for his themes that seek to reconcile old and new world influences. Exposure to European folklore imbued his urban surroundings with a sense of hidden history and ancient landscapes. Vitorovich looks for a narrative element to incorporate into a story fragment. Using his photographs as reference, he depicts landscapes in transition, the ebb and flow of the decline and renewal create a theater of cycles. Landmarks are lost in undergrowth and transfer into fading monuments. There is the haunting sense that something much older lingers within the city’s deepest recesses. The enduring role of stories in an ever-changing landscape continues to be the driving force in his work.

This bio/description was originally published in 2012 and updated in 2013. For more current information, please refer to the award recipient's website (if provided).