They Have Landed

They Have Landed Artist Loren Naji created a time capsule/art sculpture for the city. It was destroyed then trashed. Simultaneously, I worked as a graphic and display designer.

I was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1957, my mother, a writer, Cleveland born histologist and my father, an Iraqi immigrant, a pathologist. I studied Graphic Design from 1975-1981 and later did post graduate work, both at Kent State University. I studied portrait painting at The Art Students League and The New York Studio School, in New York City. From 1993-1998, armed with a scholarship, I attend

ed The Cleveland Institute of Art to earn my B.F.A in Painting and Sculpture. I travelled to Indonesia, Morocco, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Borneo and Turkey procuring primitive artifacts for my unique Design Studio Gallery. Since then I have operated 5 additional galleries, including the infamous Loren Naji Studio Gallery. Voted “Best Sculptor 2013” in Cleveland Magazine I have displayed my art in many venues, including The Cleveland Museum of Art, The NEO Show, Asterisk Gallery, Spaces, The Butler Art Museum, The Maryland Federation of Art, Phoenix Gallery in New York. My public sculpture, “They Have Landed” is located, at the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge, across from the West Side Market. I am a decision-making board member of the Skeggs Lecture Series at Youngstown State University and have worked choosing and hiring prominent speakers including artist Vito Acconci and author, Toni Morrison. Among other grants, I received a $27,500. and and a house to create Satellite Installation Gallery in Collinwood, Ohio
In 2016 I created Emoh, an 8-foot spherical live-in sculpture that confronted homelessness. USA Today featured an Emmy-Award winning video about my experience. I was featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not for living inside my own art. This fall, I will tour with my sculpture, Emoh, proposing multiple spheres covered with art by various artists. These live-in public sculptures, placed throughout cities will serve as homeless shelters.

08/19/2025

The Church of Art
Looking for one , or several creative thinking partner(s) to create an exciting FUN, all-encompassing out-of-the-box art group. Ooops, there is no box!
We would plan and design our format, our methods of operation, frequency of meetings, ideas for promotion, website, social media and such.
End goal: I am imagining a “club”, a gathering for individuals, collaboratives, artists, out-of-the-box thinkers for creative brainstorm meetings that lead to realization of wild and unusual public art projects, installations, happenings, performances and events,
Our meetings would be casual, informal social gatherings with no leaders or directors. Essentially, writers, sculptors, musicians, painters, poets, dancers, performers, actors, projectionists and all creative people would present small and grandiose ideas to consider for realization and to gather collaborators.
Art works or “projects” may include single art forms (eg. a large sculpture installed Downtown) or many disciplines and art forms (eg. A music performance that uses art projections, sculptures and paintings)
The “club”( anyone who becomes a member) would meet perhaps once a month and smaller groups (working on separate projects) could plan their own individual meetings to plan or create their projects. Our meetings would be relaxed, casual, social, even possibly including meals and beverages!
I imagine many members of the Church of Art…more ideas, more excitement, more projects, larger projects, more creative hands, more possibilities, and more new friendships and connections. We would all share our ideas with everyone and any member may promote their own ideas or join other collaborators with their ideas. Many skills would be needed and available for all projects.
Examples of possible projects: painting graphics on an abandoned house, a concert near The Free Stamp, a sculpture placed in a public location, an art show at a public venue or an abandoned building, a performance march through downtown, art fliers wheat-pasted throughout our city, a 60 ft. banner dropped down from The Detroit- Superior Bridge, a dinner where we invite celebrity guests,….endless possibilities! Projects could promote ideas, politics, protests or they might be fun zany and ridiculous.
The Church of Art would need computer geeks, website developers, carpenters, painters, writers, performers, marketers, plumbers…..you name it!
I have an 11,000 square-ft space for our gatherings and construction of projects.
If you are interested in the start-up partnership, please DM me.
The Church of Art
Looking for one , or several creative thinking partner(s) to create an exciting FUN, all-encompassing out-of-the-box art group. Ooops, there is no box!
We would plan and design our format, our methods of operation, frequency of meetings, ideas for promotion, website, social media and such.
End goal: I am imagining a “club”, a gathering for individuals, collaboratives, artists, out-of-the-box thinkers for creative brainstorm meetings that lead to realization of wild and unusual public art projects, installations, happenings, performances and events,
Our meetings would be casual, informal social gatherings with no leaders or directors. Essentially, writers, sculptors, musicians, painters, poets, dancers, performers, actors, projectionists and all creative people would present small and grandiose ideas to consider for realization and to gather collaborators.
Art works or “projects” may include single art forms (eg. a large sculpture installed Downtown) or many disciplines and art forms (eg. A music performance that uses art projections, sculptures and paintings)
The “club”( anyone who becomes a member) would meet perhaps once a month and smaller groups (working on separate projects) could plan their own individual meetings to plan or create their projects. Our meetings would be relaxed, casual, social, even possibly including meals and beverages!
I imagine many members of the Church of Art…more ideas, more excitement, more projects, larger projects, more creative hands, more possibilities, and more new friendships and connections. We would all share our ideas with everyone and any member may promote their own ideas or join other collaborators with their ideas. Many skills would be needed and available for all projects.
Examples of possible projects: painting graphics on an abandoned house, a concert near The Free Stamp, a sculpture placed in a public location, an art show at a public venue or an abandoned building, a performance march through downtown, art fliers wheat-pasted throughout our city, a 60 ft. banner dropped down from The Detroit- Superior Bridge, a dinner where we invite celebrity guests,….endless possibilities! Projects could promote ideas, politics, protests or they might be fun zany and ridiculous.
The Church of Art would need computer geeks, website developers, carpenters, painters, writers, performers, marketers, plumbers…..you name it!
I have an 11,000 square-ft space for our gatherings and construction of projects.
If you are interested in the start-up partnership, please DM me.

Send a message to learn more

06/19/2023

Joint Statement of Loren Naji, Panzica Construction Co., and
Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors
June 16, 2023

After gathering additional information, Mr. Naji learned that the removal of his artwork, They Have Landed, was the result of a misunderstanding by Mr. Naji, Panzica, and Harbor Bay. Neither Mr. Naji, Panzica, nor Harbor Bay are to blame for this misunderstanding.

Additionally, Mr. Naji has learned that Panzica and Harbor Bay have a strong past and ongoing commitment to public art within the city of Cleveland and within the other communities in which they invest. Mr. Naji regrets media reports that tarnished Panzica’s and Harbor Bay’s strong support for the arts and not recognizing Panzica’s ongoing board service with the Assembly for the Arts.

Through their shared commitment for public art, Mr. Naji is excited that Panzica and Harbor Bay have chosen to make a generous donation to support Mr. Naji’s further work to create a new piece of public art. We look forward to sharing his next sculpture with the community soon.
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02/21/2023

Address

Cleveland, OH
44113

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