Robert Lazzarini

Teacup Robert Lazzarini, 2003 Robert Lazzarini was born in New Jersey in 1965 and has lived and worked in New York since the 1980s. His early interest in art was encouraged by his grandfather, an art teacher, and other members of his family, many of whom are members of the scientific community. His work often recreates and then subverts everyday objects, thereby confounding the viewer's expectations and challenging ideas of perception. For this project, his first to use complex non-linear distortion, Lazzarini composited attributes of different cups and saucers to arrive at an archetypal object. He first drew the cup and saucer using three-dimensional modeling software and then found a well-proportioned spoon and laser scanned it directly into his computer. He next applied multiple sine wave patterns along different axes through these virtual objects. After finishing the virtual modeling stage, Lazzarini created a series of rapid prototypes reproducing the rendering in three dimensional form. Designed to be viewed from all angles, Teacup becomes a visual anomaly placed among everyday items, evoking a melancholic, otherworldly quality. Although challenging to drink from, it can be used. In order to suggest years of use, each cup is hand-finished by Lazzarini and features a small chip in the rim, which was the artist’s intention.