Sam Losavio has always been fascinated by patterns in the natural world. Even in the chaos and mystery of outer space, the inherent order and logic have provided him with plenty of inspiration.
Look closely, and you’ll find order taking shape in his sometimes chaotic and asymmetrical artwork.
The Baton Rouge artist looked to the cosmos for inspiration in the 1980s, when he started working on paper drawings using charcoal and gouache. He created expressive abstract lines and shapes in black and white. Later, Losavio translated those drawings into sculpture, using wire, rubber, lead and wood to mold those same lines and shapes into something more tangible.
Since then, he’s found a balance between the two art forms, building dense and complex compositions on paper and out of wire.
The LSU graduate taught for more than a decade here, at the University of Florida and at Loyola University before joining the Louisiana Art & Science Museum staff in 1995.
He retires this month after 22 years as assistant director, and it only seems natural that he’d be able to show off some of his work at the end of his final year with the museum.
“The Art of Chaos & Order: Sam Losavio” features work he’s created over the last three decades, which he describes as “a continual process of construction and deconstruction, an organic process that mirrors the mysteries of nature,” according to a press release.
The exhibition continues this month in the museum’s Soupçon Gallery and closes Feb. 25. A good time to go is this month’s First Sunday event Dec. 3, when admission to the museum is free. lasm.org
