BY LINDA DeNICOLA
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY staff Artist Bob Mataranglo created a video using animation, music and clips of past festivals to mark the 35th Monmouth Festival of the Arts. In his studio located above Days Ice Cream Parlor in Ocean Grove, artist Bob Mataranglo sculpts little worlds, and sometimes not so little worlds, out of foam board and video.
On the walls are a few of his three-dimensional creations: Joe the taxi driver facing out toward the viewer in his yellow cab, and a street scene under the Brooklyn Bridge with the Empire State Building in the background.
These are early works, done before he was inspired to combine his background in animation with the colorful, vibrant sculptures.
Right now he is working on a sculptured theater that will house a video commissioned by the Monmouth Festival of the Arts to commemorate the festival’s 35th year.
Besides sculpting substantial foam board pieces, Mataranglo is a digital editor and has had works in more than 20 film festivals. He is developing a digital video editing business and shows videos in venues all over the country.
Mataranglo has been actively involved with the Monmouth Festival of the Arts for six or seven years and he was asked to do an animated video retrospective to run continuously during the four days of the show at the Monmouth Reform Temple on Hance Avenue in Tinton Falls.
“They provided me with 200 photos, a dozen VHS tapes, copies of brochures and newspaper clippings and said put something together,” he said.
Mataranglo put together a charming six-minute film with animation, music, clips of events over the years, volunteers, artists and teachers that will loop continuously during the festival, which begins April 9 and runs through April 13.
The festival traditionally begins with a pre-opening gala reception. Daily admission is $7 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and students and a series ticket is $18.
The works of over 250 fine artists, in all media, will be displayed and for sale throughout the professionally designed galleries.
In addition, there will be mini art lessons by more than 20 participating artists, Sunday performance and workshops for children; a chance art auction of more than 50 original works by participating artists; a cafe serving lunch, light suppers, desserts, snacks and beverages as well as a seminar for artists, symposium for educators and pre-arranged group tours. For information about the festival, call (732) 747-8278.
Artwork is a second career for Mataranglo, but he feels it is the one that should have come first and foremost. He was an engineer for 28 years and switched careers 10 years ago, returning to school to study art and video.
While working on his degree, he did an independent study and used foam board for the first time.
“I wanted to create different levels in the painting. I like the idea of the illusion of space in traditional painting and the real space I could create by three dimensional elements.”
Mataranglo did four abstract, geometrical pieces and found a niche for himself as a sculptural painter, creating relief paintings that hang on the wall.
They were very well received by galleries and buyers. Mataranglo said he entered one of his pieces in a show at the Art Alliance in Red Bank, and it was sold before the show opened.
He found that it was something he really liked doing.
“I have made over 100 pieces, all different sizes, different subjects, rich colors.”
Among them are a 6-foot sneaker that was on display in various places around the county and an equally ubiquitous 7-foot gangster.
The tools he uses are few and simple. Besides the foam board, he uses an X-Acto knife, a self-healing mat for cutting, rulers, triangles as well as white glue and tailor’s pins to hold the whole construction together.
“I stick the pins in to hold the piece together until the glue dries, but I often leave the pins in and paint over them.”
He adds three or four coats of acrylic and lastly, the piece is sealed with gesso and prime.
“Each piece is made to be durable and sturdy,” he said, explaining that one piece can take 50 to 100 hours to complete. The theater piece that he is making for the Festival of the Arts will take about 100 hours, he said.
For that piece, he is not only using foam board, but also paper and canvas for different textures. He painstakingly scored the inflexible foam board to make it bend to his design.
About one and a half years ago, Mataranglo started embedding miniature TVs in the sculptures.
“The TV is attached to a DVD or VCR player that is inside the pedestal that the sculpture stands on. The newer versions have a self-contained DVD player with a built-in screen. They are like minicomputers and the quality is perfect, much better than the TV.”
His animated videos have been screened in numerous film festivals across the United States and Canada and he has won two best animation awards and been nominated for a third. He has won several awards for his three-dimensional artwork.
In addition, he is a mural painter, completing six large public murals in Monmouth County during the past four years and over 30 interior murals with students in various school systems throughout the state.
Mataranglo said he finds inspiration for his work everywhere.
“I can be walking down the street and something catches my eye, or watching a movie, or something in popular culture piques my interest. The ‘aha!’ moments come when you least expect them. The intuitive process takes on a life of its own.”
Once an idea takes shape in his mind, he does a very loose sketch and then makes a portion of the piece. Oftentimes, when he gets to that point, his original idea has changed.
As an example, he cited the piece he is working on for the festival.
“I saw an 18th-century stage in a movie and decided to create something like that, but I’ve changed the design and made it my own. I started with a sketch of the stage, then designed a dome to go over it and a structure to hold the dome in place.”
When he reached that point, he realized that he would have to build an addition on the back to surround the DVD player.
“It’s a problem-solving process. That’s the joy of it. The piece kind of dictates the next step.”
Taking a flat piece of foam board and transforming it into something entirely different is fun, he added. So is using his engineering background.
“The whole idea of structure and design is in my blood,” he said.
Mataranglo said he likes being original, doing something that no one else is doing. But he wants to continue to grow. Now that he is adding video to his innovations, he is brewing an idea to take it up another notch, put his 3-D art into the video and have animated characters moving around in and out of the sculptures.
“That would be the next logical step,” said the artist.
To view Mataranglo’s work, visit his Web site, www.bobmataranglo.com.