Christopher Georgesco

By Jackie Devereaux

PALM SPRINGS, CA – Local sculptor Christopher Georgesco has earned the prestigious honor of having one of his sculptures chosen by the Palm Springs Art Museum for permanent installation in their Sculpture Garden.

“We are very happy that an important piece of Christopher’s art is now in the collection of the Palm Springs Art Museum,” said Michael H. Lord, owner of the Michael Lord Art Gallery, where eight of Georgesco’s sculptures are on display.

“We are very excited because Georgesco is one of the more important sculptors in the community, and he is being recognized,” Lord said. “It’s a high honor.”

Christopher Georgesco is of Romanian descent, born in Nebraska but raised in Brentwood, California. He considers himself to be a very lucky man because he knew his path in life early on was to be an artist. He didn’t have to agonize for years over whether he should become an engineer, a lawyer or an architect.

“As a child I was recognized for my art work. My paintings lined the school halls and hung in the principal’s office. My father, a internationally recognized architect, backed me one hundred percent. He told me if I stuck to my guns with art, I would always be free,” said Georgesco.

Georgesco indeed was lucky to have a father named Haralamb H. Georgesco (1908 – 1977), a renowned architect instrumental in exposing him to Modernism through his ground-breaking work. “My father never spoke about himself but I learned the Modern style from watching him,” he said.

In 1968, Georgesco graduated from Palisades High School near Santa Monica and moved to Venice Beach unaware that the area would soon become a dominant west coast hub for artists, musicians and actors. The “Light and Space” and “Art and Technology” movements both became pivotal influences on his work.

“My aptitude towards geometry and sculp- ture were good so I began work on Abstract- ing Minimalism with Outer Space and In- finity becoming prime factors in my work.”

“I was blown away when I learned the sky did not end and have found myself working in cyclical aspects. I think of my sculpture as the place that space circles have in common.

“The sculpture being the inner space leaves the predominate portion of my sculptures in outer space. Outer space is what I try to form and activate using the sculptures as templates. The stainless steel in my recent pieces has brought light to my work.

“I began dividing the rectangle which I preferred over the square because it is elegant and elongated. I developed a series of forms, interchangeable in position and scale which evolves today. When building sculpture, I know exactly where each piece fits. Making cardboard models to scale, a practice I learned working in the drafting room, my father’s modern architecture came into play again as I began to realize my choice of style and materials. Wood, concrete and steels were engrained into me from a young age, Georgesco said.

“My exposure to Modernism was early, having a father in both the Bauhaus and Modernist Movements. It is hard to dispute – less is more. It is timeless.”

Additionally, Le Corbusier made a big impression him. He leased a 5,000 sq. ft. warehouse in Venice Beach from 1968 to 1982 for $235 a month and finished his first body of work in 1970 on wood and canvas.

“The Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art people would stop by yearly, and one of the committee members, Joni Gordon, started a new gallery space where I exhibited for 35 years,” he said.

However, by 1994, he was forced into a South Central LA studio for six years to keep his overhead low enough to keep building sculptures. That space was not safe for his new bride so he found safe space just outside Palm Springs, in Desert Hot Springs with Maria Verstappen, a fashionista expert, model and saleswoman at Trina Turk haute couture retail store.

When Christoper is not busy in his DHS studio/home, and his wife, Maria is not busy working at Trina Turk’s, this high-class couple can be found walking arm and arm down Indian Canyon or lounging at a local hot mineral spring spa.

A collection of eight sculptures representing different periods of Georgesco’s work can be seen at the Michael Lord Gallery located at 1090 N. Palm Canyon, Tuesday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Call 760-322- 4818 for information about an upcoming artist’s reception.