Eric Toscano Is JerseyArts.com's May 2011 Featured Artist

NEW JERSEY: Eric Toscano of Marlton, NJ is JerseyArts.com's Featured Artist for May, 2011. Toscano's work is currently on display at Creative Genius Gallery and Studio in Medford, New Jersey, and is available for viewing online at http://jerseyarts.com/ArtistGallery.aspx.

A New Jersey native, Toscano received his BFA from Rowan University. An artist and educator residing in Marlton, Eric has shown his work at numerous venues across South Jersey and Philadelphia. Exhibitions include 2008's "Small Works" at Fusion Gallery in Collingswood and "Too Real Is Too Real" at The Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts in Millville, NJ. He is pursuing an MFA at the University of the Arts. He has also studied at Peters Valley Craft Education Center.

"I appreciate Eric's collage techniques, which allow materials to blend together and interact with one another in a way that detracts from the prominence of any particular material," said Emily Ambash, curator of JerseyArts.com's Virtual Gallery. "His use of color involves striking examples of artwork inhabiting and fighting itself."

"I aspire to produce innovative artwork that is aesthetic and emotive," said Toscano, " By using found objects and alternative materials, whose original purpose may be slightly altered or completely obscured, I examine the value placed upon traditional ideas, methods, and media."

The JerseyArts.com Virtual Gallery features artwork from an array of New Jersey artists. Artists are selected by JerseyArts.com based on a variety of different criteria including but not limited to whether: the artist is working and living in New Jersey, has an event taking place in a New Jersey venue, and/or has earned special recognition from a New Jersey organization/program during month they are featured.

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ABOUT DISCOVER JERSEY ARTS

Discover Jersey Arts (DJA) is a cosponsored project of the ArtPride New Jersey Foundation and New Jersey State Council on the Arts working in partnership with other cultural service organizations statewide including the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, South Jersey Cultural Alliance, New Jersey Network and New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism. The project's mission is to increase the awareness of and participation in the arts in New Jersey. JerseyArts.com supports this mission by providing a central clearinghouse of information on New Jersey's cultural scene.

Since its launch in the summer of 2000 following more than two years of research and development into assessing the needs of its constituents, DJA has developed a wide variety of programs and initiatives to support our state's cultural community and arts-going public. For more information visit DJA on the web at http://www.jerseyarts.com.