Inge Infante

Biography

Inge Infante, a German artist living in California, studied art, photography, graphic design and mathematics. This background together with her love of music and travel is reflected in her art in a fascinating combination of painting, drawing, printing, photography, computer graphics and collage. Images of the past and present fuse to offer new and individual interpretations. Inge Infante’s works are exhibited in galleries and museums and are owned by collectors in USA and Europe.

Statement

A passion for art has been with me on the journey from my birthplace Berlin to Freiburg, where I grew up in the shadow of the Black Forest. During a two-year residence in Rome, Italy, I studied Italian and art history. Studying for a Masters degree in mathematics in the United States I  focused on the mathematical representation of the spiral arm galaxies, encountering a new kind of beauty.Minoring in art allowed me to express these abstract concepts visually.

After moving to the Bay Area I explored monotype printing (Smith Andersen Editions) and etching (Crown Point Press). But my passion for collage was awakened during summer studies in Florence (with Cristina DeGennaro) and Paris (with Raymond Saunders). Between 1993 and 2000 I have been an art educator for elementary school children in Palo Alto. Since 1999  I am on the Pacific Art League faculty, teaching collage, assemblage, expressionistic painting and monotype. In 2003 I had the privilege to get juried into the Cubberley artists’ studios in Palo Alto, where I can collage to my heart’s content.

I have  received  over twenty awards, exhibiting in galleries and museums since 1995. Using collage, in its many technical variations, offers the perfect medium to assemble eclectic visions. I incorporate materials collected on trips to cities here and abroad: torn posters, subway tickets, café receipts, soiled napkins – stuff that should have ended up in the trash. I find inspiration from surfaces marked by human hands and fleeting time. Urban mess is a song to my artist’s heart. My work is an invitation to participate in a visual journey that may resonate with the viewer’s own life experiences.