Lazarus Nazario

Categories: Visual Arts

Born on Columbus Day in New York City in 1968 with all the implications that that entails for a Puerto Rican woman grappling with American history.

I was raised in Staten Island, NY. What you’d call a Nuyorican; second generation Puerto Rican born in NYC. Growing up in the "forgotten borough" made it tough to fit in and I experienced racism at an early age. Not having been born in Puerto Rico meant I wasn’t a native either, so it gives me a unique perspective.

A duality I began to call Birth of a Nuyorican: All the stigma with none of the romance!

Through the new surrealist genre I’m able to tell a story of global upheaval within the natural world. Juxtaposing images is an integral part of my work. I aim to catch the viewer off guard and have them rethink what it is they are seeing and why. Through paintings, drawings & mixed media I confront individual, political, and collective disconnection. I create socio-political art that is political and personal, graphic and poetic.

My work is featured in private collections across the United States, including that of Dennis Rivera, Co-Chair of the 1199 SEIU National Benefit Fund, Joshua White, Light Show and Installation Artist and Dick Eger, husband of Anna Aronovitch, Executive Director of the Arts Council of the Morris Area, New Jersey.

I received scholarships to attend the National Academy of Design School of Fine Arts where I studied under Sharon Sprung.

I studied at the Art Student's League and The School of Visual Arts, NYC. I've taught at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Wagner college in New York.

In 2006 I received an Original Work Grant from the NY State Council of the Arts & Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island, 2005 Grant from the George Sugarman Foundation. I received the James Amster Memorial Award from the National Arts Club, New York and won first prize for portraiture at the National Academy of Design School of Fine Arts.

I live and work in the Bronx, NYC.