My name is Ian Paratore. I am a mixed media artist, born and raised in San Francisco, and after learning to love other west coast cities, and living in New York and Madrid, I am back living by the Bay, in nature-filled California. I work with paper, and create art with anything on its way to disregard; never using brand new materials.

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I took visual arts classes as a teenager, but only returned to art after collegiate baseball years as an undergraduate. 

I studied renewable energy and ecducation at UC Berkeley, and moved around the country after graduation. In 2019, I taught English in a high school outside of Madrid, Spain, and strarted to devote more time to his art practice.

 

My work serves as a reminder to be critical, pointing to the finite nature of our lives, comforts, and surroundings, to foster urgency. I collage using only upcycled materials to allude to the disposable nature of our consumerism. My undergraduate years were full of the social sciences and taught me about the meaning of sustainability. Renewable energy became a focus of mine, but the money-oriented decision making of the energy industry deterred me from pursuing a career there. After spending some years in education, art was my way back into promoting a sustainable consciousness. In my work, you'll find like images meshing together to create symbols and visual puzzles.

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Sometimes my work is thoroughly mapped out, other times it is more free flowing, and maybe it is simply the images that had risen to the tops of surrounding piles. I am inspired by individuals, young and old, who have accomplished amazing things, who had the courage to commit to a big change in their lives, or maybe to face a fear of heights. These people choose growth over comfort. A macro focus on constant improvement will start with brave individuals blazing the trail. I aim to help make those kinds of leaps more conceivable, with conversation and art.