Joseph Lupo received his BFA from Bradley University and his MFA from the University of Georgia. His work has been a part of over 80 different exhibitions at the International Print Center of New York, The Contemporary Art Workshop in Chicago, the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Indianapolis Art Center, and The Contemporary Art Center in Atlanta. Joseph’s work is included in various permanent collections including the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University, the Denver Art Museum, the Museum of Texas Tech University, and the Spencer Museum of Art. Joseph served as the president of SGC International from 2008-10. He has received multiple awards and grants for his work as an academic including the “Honorary Member of the Council” award from SGCI (2014), “BIG XII Faculty Fellowship” (2013), “WVU Senate Research Grant” (2008 and 2009), “Excellence in Teaching” (2015), “Excellence in Service” (2014) and “Excellence in Research” (2013) awards from the WVU College of Creative Arts.

My artistic practice explores deconstructionist and postmodern theories of how we understand signifiers and language. In 2005 I began to deconstruct the comic book “The Invincible Iron Man”, volume 01, issue 178, published in 1982. Using comics gives me the opportunity to take apart and reorganize a cultural artifact that is familiar and considered complete. By manipulating aspects of the imagery, text, or story structure, I can challenge our assumptions about fixed narratives, binary definitions, and fixed meaning.

My latest series of prints evolved out of a previous project that alphabetized the same Iron Man comic book. The new work alphabetizes text inside certain word balloons to make absurdist statements that reference William Burroughs, the “cut up” literary technique, as well as DADAIST poetry.

See more of Joseph's work here.