Federico Uribe’s work is two-sided at once: abstract and figurative.

“The figurative is emotional and intensely psychological,” the Colombia-born artist says. “The abstract is the healthy part of my head.”

His art-making is a labor-intensive, repetitive and compulsive process – one that re-envisions how the world around us is perceived. And he finds his palette and media in everyday objects all around himself.

“I started making pencil sculptures maybe six years ago – I was painting before that,” he says. “Now I work not only with pencils, but with shoes, coins or anything I can get my hands on. It’s about the possibilities of objects as materials.”

Born in Bogota in 1962, Uribe now lives and works in Miami. He studied art at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, then left in 1988 for New York, to study under Luis Camnitzer. Since moving to the states, his work has been exhibited in Italy, Spain, Germany, Mexico and New York.

He’s not trying to make a statement with his work, he says. Instead, he seeks to impart a positive effect upon his viewers.

“It’s about peace, harmony and happiness,” he says. “I’m not making things for people to think about, but to smile at because they’re beautiful.  I make beautiful objects that I want people to enjoy.”

He’ll introduce irony, humor, childhood memory and fantasy into his work, with a fresh association of materials and ideas. Once past the “wow” factor, his work entices the viewer to physically experience and interact with it in a personal way.

“I believe every object out there has been created for an aesthetic as well as practical reason,” he says. “A screw could have been created to be beautiful as well as functional – I try to find aesthetic beauty everywhere I go.”

Especially in pencils.

His newest show opens at KM Gallery in Los Angeles on Sept. 12, with a reception from 7 to 10 PM.

For more on the artist, go to http://www.federicouribe.com/

For more on the gallery, go to http://www.kmfinearts.com/

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