Bio –
Lorenz is a German-American jeweller/metalsmith and RISD alum, with a focus on steel and silver hollow forms. He first experienced metalsmithing through Cranbrook Academy of Art—learning from Seth Papac as well as Amy Weiks, for whom he later interned at Smith Shop. Lorenz studied Metals at Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) under Christine Clark, before transferring to the Jewelry + Metalsmithing Department at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)—studying abroad at SLEM and Glasgow School of Art (GSA). After graduating with honors, he returned to GSA, where he taught and held a residency—showing at spaces like The Lighthouse. Lorenz moved to Brooklyn, where he currently resides, operating from his home studio—designing, fabricating, consulting in the worlds of fashion, home goods, and accessories; and delving into his own production work, entitled Gleichgewicht. His work is predominantly narrative-based—actualized through formal touchstones meant to occupy a liminal space of experience and intention. Since the pandemic, Lorenz has returned to a fine-art bench practice to indulge in these meditations, culminating in a new body of work—Hypoxia.
Artist Statement –
Hypoxia embodies the ethereal and intangible. Venting frustration over situations that cannot be controlled. Reaching to encompass a scope that cannot be fathomed.
The pandemic prompted the context of separation, heightening the anxiety of losing control. Discourse filled the once cacophonous void of human connection in New York—the brief gasp for air as things shut down and restructured, allowing time for introspection unhindered by the cadence of city life.
Empty space. Air.
Something we take for granted, waste, fight against, and now shelter from.
The vent forms of Hypoxia mark this liminal space of understanding. The works use the subject of politics to address issues of concern: Their vents a pass through. Their material an armour. And their form as obtuse as discourse.
In their digital form, the works provide a means to engage—a prompt to conversation of thoughts most intimate, an invitation to share with others not merely what we’re working on but working through.
Air it out.
Poetics:
OBOGS[On Board Oxygen Generating System]
Exhausted by irrecoverable collateral collapse—
Abatement of the corpse.
Consequences quenching corrosion with consolation—
To which comfort is coerced.
Falling forward, the vantage of steps since past—
Hegemony’s seizure terse.
Operation usurped by the obfuscation of denigration—
A breast left of nurse.
BRAG[Breathing Regulator/Anti-G]
Clutching scoured skin, stains of strain unravel.
Contrast compels without scope—
Besmirch the stones set by men, a future unshackled.
Fester the unravelling rope—
Caught in the throes of life, conscience’s insipid rattle.
Yearning for a warrant to hope.
EOR[Emergency Oxygen Ring]
Pendulous Damocles, the proletariat’s parentheses—
Earth abound, lost in the chasm of thunderous sounds.
Incongruous yet bound, animus is crowned.
Detritus, the utterance of shed encumbrance.
Hypocrisy aloud, the march of docile crowd. Only in absence are we proud.
Connect with Lorenz and his work on his website, http://lorenzmager.com/ or on Instagram @lorenzolivermager.
Digitally Yours 