Jorge Blanco (born March 21, 1945, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan-born American artist, who emigrated to the United States in 1999. He has spent his professional career working as a sculptor, graphic designer and illustrator. He is the creator of the comic strip The Castaway. He served as Creative Director of El Museo de los Niños for twenty years.
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Education
Blanco began drawing and painting in 1967 and sculpting in the early 1970s, although he was interested in art from an early age. He received his formal training at the Neumann Institute in Caracas, Venezuela, which he attended with the aid of a scholarship. In 1971, Blanco graduated as an industrial designer from the Neumann Institute of Design in Caracas, Venezuela, after which he worked as a graphic designer. From 1975 to 1979, he lived in Rome, Italy, where he attended open classes at the Academy of Fine Arts.
Career
Blanco's first solo exhibition was in 1974, where he showed sculpture and drawings. A year later, he moved to Rome, Italy, where he continued to work in sculpture while making a living by doing freelance graphic design drawing cartoons for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including political cartoons for the newspaper L'Opinione.
In 1978, Blanco participated in the Bordhigera Humor Salon, winning the Dattero D'Argento, and in the Monterotondo Sculpture Salon, where he was awarded the first prize for medium format sculpture.
In 1979, Blanco returned to Caracas, Venezuela, where he exhibited his sculptures and drawings at the Sofía Imber Museum of Contemporary Art. Here, he continued working in sculpture but he also designed and illustrated a children's newspaper El Cohete.
In 1980, he was hired as the Art Director for the Caracas Children's Museum (Art, Science and Technology, Museo de los Niños). He worked there until 1998.
That same year, Blanco created the comic strip The Castaway/El Náufrago, which made its debut in El Diario de Caracas. It was published in major newspapers and magazines in Venezuela and led to significant sales in merchandising and books. The Castaway was also adapted to television. Due to the comic's success, Blanco no longer had time to work on his sculpture alongside his work as freelance graphic designer, illustrator, and his job at the museum, and had to put sculpture aside.
In 1989, Blanco returned to sculpture, and eventually left the Caracas Children's Museum to move to the United States. Blanco began exhibiting again in both Venezuela and the United States as well as around the world. In 1996, Blanco installed four sculptures in Tokyo, Japan.
Since 1999, Blanco has lived and worked on the West Coast of Florida, with a particular focus on public art. In 2005, Blanco became an American citizen. He currently resides in Sarasota, Florida.
In 2007, Blanco received the John Ringling Visual Art Award.
The Castaway (El Naufrago)
The Castaway is a comic strip created by Blanco in 1980 about a man trapped on an island that was originally printed in the newspaper El Diario de Caracas. "The Castaway" was also published in the United States in The Observer, a Sarasota-based weekly newspaper.
Influences
Blanco's early works were influenced by his teachers Gertrude Goldschmidt (Gego) and Cornelis Zitman and by the work of artists such as Auguste Herbin, Paul Klee and Joan Miró. At this time, he worked with materials such as Lycra, rope, wood, mirrors, and bronze. In 1992, Blanco began to explore color and metal as a primary material.
Public art
"Go Bongo", Ghent Station, Norfolk, Virginia, US
"Swimming in Jupiter", Town of Jupiter, Florida, US
"AIR" , MARC athletic Center, Park City, Utah, US
Breakaway, Renown Health Center, Reno, Nevada, US
Yellow Thinker, Renown Health Center. Reno, Nevada, US
El Camarada, José Ignacio, Punta del Este, Uruguay
Freeriding, Jack Harris Park, North Central College, Michigan, US
Dynamics, Fort Pierce, Florida, US
For The Goal, Leawood Park, Kansas, US
Red Run Red, Leawood Park, Kansas, US
See Run Red, R Park, Roeland Park, Kansas, US
Yellow Bench, Roeland Park, Kansas, US
In The Swim, Marina Plaza, Fort Pierce, Florida, US
Andalucia, Riverside Commerce Park, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, US
Alfresco, University Ridge Park, Reno, Nevada, US
Smile, Boulevard of the Arts, Sarasota, Florida, US
Pleasant Tree, Chula Vista Public Library, California, US
Phoenix, Anderson Administration Building, Venice, Florida, US
Exhibits
Solo exhibitions
2014/15 "The Joy of Living" O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2012 "Art Nocturne" Sculpture. Knokke-Heist, Belgium
2010 "De Punta en Blanco" Sculpture. Espacio Tierra Negra Gallery. José Ignacio, Uruguay
2009 "New Sculptures" One-man exhibition. HW Gallery. Naples, Florida, US
1997 "Metálicas de Vida Alegre" Sculptures & Serigraphs. Icono Gallery. Caracas, Venezuela
1995 "Humor de Acero" Sculptures. Centro de Arte Euroamericano. Caracas, Venezuela
1992 "Caras y una Patilla" Sculpture. Galería Oscar Ascanio. Caracas, Venezuela
1979 "Esculturas y Dibujos" Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas. Caracas, Venezuela
1978 "Scultura e Disegni" Istituto Italo-Latino Americano. Roma, Italia
1976 "Disegni" Paesi Nuovi Gallery. Roma, Italia
1974 "30 Dibujos" Galería Banap. Caracas, Venezuela
Selected group exhibitions
2015 "Contemporary Expressions & Recent Sculptures by Jorge Blanco" O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2015 "The Lightness of Being: Abstracts: Part I" Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, Florida, US
2015 "Fluid Formalism: Concepts in Motion" O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2014 "Pinta Art Fair" O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2014 "Made in Sarasota", Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, Florida, US
2013 "Movement Through Colors", O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2013 "Black, White & Red" A New Leaf Gallery/Sculpturesite, Sonoma, California, US
2012 "Aesthetic Perfection" O. Ascanio Gallery, Miami, Florida, US
2012 "Scope Miami" Miami, Florida, US
2012 "Small-format Sculpture" Galerie Artelie. Paris, France
2012 "Sculpture" Cafmeyer Gallery. Knokke-Heist, Belgium
2012 "Florida Outdoor Sculpture Competition" Polk Museum of Art + City of Winter Haven. Winter Haven, Florida, US
2011 "Burst Art Fair" Miami, Florida, US
2011 "Public Art Exhibition" Coastal Discovery Museum. Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, US