Linus Coraggio
Born 1966 in Manhattan where he still resides.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Having two creative parents (my mother was a metal sculptress, my father an avant-garde composer) made the making of art a compelling and altogether normal endeavor from an early age. I began drawing at age one; carving linoleum printing blocks at age seven; and embarking on the creation of hundreds of intricate wood, cardboard and plastic sculptures from the age of eight.
Since 1980 the focus of my work has been welded sculpture and sculptural furniture, although I continue to paint, draw and pull my own prints. I'm inspired by the great American abstract sculptors of the 20th century, namely David Smith, Mark di Suvero, Isaac Witkin, Beverly Pepper and Simon Rodia. My motivational flow emanates from intellectual desire and curiosity to explore new compositional dynamics. In my work I often seek to express sociopolitical concepts or a narrative idea, within abstract as well as realistic pieces. Ideally I like my audience to experience my 3-D work outdoors, in a public urban site or a nature setting.
I enjoy working in all scales — from tabletop miniatures to public plaza sizes. To keep things diverse I create work in multiple genres and modes, from freestanding sculpture to mobiles to sculptural furniture and accouterments for the home and garden. I strive to create compositions featuring unique spatial relationships, dramatically variant volumes, negative space, and strong — even startling — proportional rhythms. I choose recycled material and found objects primarily because the quirky historical continuum and patina of used things intrigues me.
Since the mid-1980s I have maintained outdoor welding studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn, to which I continuously drag provocative material that I will then cut, bend and weld into the next sculpture or furniture piece.
ILON ART GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
2025 It’s Rock N’Roll, NYC
2024 10: 10th Anniversary show, NYC
2022 Abstracted, Todd, Al Diaz, Linus Coraggio, Judith Kaufman Weiner, & Anthony Haden-Guest
SHORT BIO
Linus Coraggio began drawing as a one-year-old and sculpting intricate cardboard and wood sculptures at age 8. He designed and built his first piece of furniture at age 12 . A New York City native, he attended public high school where he met and collaborated with other local artists. Coraggio first began showing his sculpture in group exhibits in NYC (some of which he curated at spaces like ABC No Rio). Also in the ’80s he invented a genre of street art called “3-D Graffiti” (welded, graffitied constructions bolted onto No-Parking signposts in several major cities). Coraggio very actively participated in the blossoming East Village art scene. He formed and galvanized a sculpture group known as the “Rivington School” that created massive junk sculpture installations on the Lower East Side from 1985 to 1997 (including the infamous Gas Station/Space 2B—his sprawling scrap metal studio of 10 years in a former gas station on 2nd St. and Ave B). Coraggio has received travel grants to Helsinki, Finland; Rotterdam, Holland; Lintz, Austria and Japan to do sponsored public sculptures. He still works and lives in NYC doing commissions and creating new welded abstract and figurative sculpture as well as one-of-a-kind metal furniture. Ringo Starr is among his collectors.
Artwork (Scuptures, Mosaics and of course 3D graffiti) by Linus Coraggio
