M. Scott Torri is a self-taught artist who discovered the joy of art at a young age and over the years dabbled with a variety of mediums to develop his present style. Torri enjoys a peculiar mixture of found images altered, drawn and arranged in a style that mimics collage. These images are reproduced in graphite for over all consistency and positioned to create a visual narrative. By drawing the images, he is free to modify them and escape the oppressive limitations of actual collage work. Each drawn image is therefore able to progress equally with another to form a visually balanced piece.
“I relish the Midwest, especially in the summer when the air is hot and the rural landscape is dry as a bone. This dried-up and muted demeanor is the typical mood of my work. I use a surreal style combined with regional elements, what I like to call Surregionalism. The elements in my work may derive from urban, suburban, or rural sources, but at all costs I try to maintain a surreal and dusty depiction.”
Torri’s artwork asserts a variety of sub-political and sub-social perspectives placed within a regional foundation. Generally, the pieces share a populist temperament: They are thought provoking but not cerebral. Above all, they share an anti-elitist tone and are therefore accessible like a raw anecdote.
All Artwork and Images © 2013, M. Scott Torri
