Nano Lopez - Master Sculptor!

The world as seen through the eyes of a child is a place of unfettered creativity, imagination, and boundless fun. There’s no facet of media that doesn’t try to play on this concrete fact of growing up, but there’s one artist in particular who has made a name for himself based on this ideology: Nano Lopez.

If you’re unfamiliar, Nano Lopez is a Colombian-born sculptor who is internationally recognized as a master of his craft. Lopez uses an ancient method of sculpting called the “lost wax” casting method that dates back to ancient Egypt, which helps him achieve the pristine levels of detail in his sculptures. (If you’re curious as to what all this very detail-oriented process entails, here’s a link to Nano Lopez’s process explanation - it’s truly fascinating! http://nanolopez.com/process.html) This casting method is what allows him to be so detailed with his integration of organic and synthetic textures and shapes in his work. The unique blend of the variety of silhouettes that exist within our whole world are mixed in a vibrant, amusing manner that appeals to the core of the collective human experience.

Nano’s artistic talents were obvious from a young age - from winning first prize in a drawing contest at 5 years old to finding wet clay at construction sites as a teenager to practice making clay figures that were copies of master works. With guidance and inspiration from his grandmother, another ceramics and water clay artist, Nano honed his technical skills and became the talent he is today. His father was a chemical engineer, which provided Nano with inspiration from the various metals and textures his father worked with, to the chemicals they used and the effects they had on the metals. With all of this inspiration and technical instruction, Lopez ended up with the complete package for becoming the master bronze sculptor that he is.

Though Nano started out specifically in just making models, he has expanded his work to what he lovingly dubs his “Nanimals” - a light-hearted, fun series of bronze cast sculptures that feature a wide variety of textures and shapes, fun colors, and compositions that connect with you on a deeper level, that child-like place where life is still fun and mysterious.

You can check out Nano Lopez’s artwork here at Fascination St. Fine Art every day, but he has a solo show coming up August 24th and 25th! Stay tuned to here or our social media for more information on that front.