As a
juried member of the New Hampshire Artists Association, you would assume that
John Lacz has years and years of art-making under his belt. Indeed he has just
that - but only if you count his 40 years spent rebuilding cars.
 Lacz's career as a body shop owner was fairly typical until a few
years ago. That's when his wife asked him to go out and find a piece of art to
grace their home's flower garden. The task proved suprisingly difficult. "I
could'nt find anything out there that she liked", says Lacz. "So I made
something myself.
Made it himself. Sounds like a typical auto
body guy. What began as a one-time need has grown into a full-time hobby. Now,
Lacz not only spends much of his spare time making large wooden and metal
sculptures, he displays and sells the pieces at art shows and art studios.
Lacz prefers no to discuss his techniques for creating the eye-catching
wood sculptures that posess such soothing angles and curves or the unique steel
figures that cast even more unique shadows. It's safe to assume he learned it
on his day job. Evidently he saw more than color blending and panel symmetry in
the many ground-up and frame-off rebuilds he's done over the years.
The
wood carvings vary from three feet to nine feet high and are finished with
Sherwin-Williams chameleon-like multi-tone paints. "The pigments contain
crystals grown to act like prisms and they actually change color based on light
refraction, giving it that unique look," explains Lacz.
Lacz's metal
sculptures are made of solid steel and are painted in similar fashion as
required to survive New England winters well preserved. However, not every art
buyer uses the original Lacz the same way.
"Clients are facinated with
the form, imagery and coloration John is creating," say Lee Forgosh of Art 3
Gallery, one of several art studios where Lacz's creations are displayed. "He
has sold major sculptural pieces to people with indoor gardens, but the form
doesn't have to be in a garden setting. The pieces stand on their own as true
art."
When does an auto body shop owner have time to create
non-automotive masterpieces? Lacz has little interest in TV or computers, so
after a day at the Manchester shop he's owned since 1975, Lacz retreats to his
studio and lets his other art take over. It helps that fewer headaches are
brought home since Lacz's restoration clientele has grown immensely.
"No
more dealing with insurance companies telling me what I'm getting paid because
they say one guy out there charges only $36 dollars an hour." That's about as
much grumbling as you'll hear from a guy who works wonders with his hands both
on and off the job.
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