Interior entrance to A Legacy of Making: 26 Contemporary Artists Inspired by Their Italian Heritage
A Legacy of Making has legs! The exhibition that took place at the Calandra Institute in New York City has greatly expanded and moved to Connecticut College in New London. In the translation it lost one curator (the estimable Joseph Sciorra) and added five more artists. I flew solo for this effort. With an enormous two-level, three-gallery space, I have been able to show more and larger work by each artist. It's up through October 19.
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With its mix of narrative and abstract painting, installation,
textile, and sculpture, A Legacy of Making: 26 Contemporary Artists
Inspired by Their Italian Heritage might have you wondering, “What exactly
is the common aesthetic thread here?” If you are from a big family, you
understand that like any gathering with the relatives, an exhibition such as
this brings an entire famiglia to the table, each with different ideas
and ways of expressing them. Drawing from all of Italian culture and tradition,
we continue the legacy in our studios, reinventing it as American art.
The 26 artists in the show are: B. Amore, John Avelluto, the late Nancy Azara,
Angelica Bergamini, Gianluca Bianchino, Jennifer Cecere, Chris Costan, Elisa
D’Arrigo, Claudia DeMonte, Paul Fabozzi, Milisa Galazzi, Diana González
Gandolfi, D. Dominick Lombardi, Lloyd Martin (Maccarone), Joanne Mattera, Timothy McDowell (Macellari), Patricia Miranda, John Monti, Laura Moriarty (Roccio/Policella), Carolanna
Parlato, Anna Patalano, Don Porcaro, Mary Schiliro, Karen Schifano, Denise
Sfraga, and Lisa Zukowski.
Scroll to the end for hours, directions, and information on two public receptions.
Entrance to the exhibition from the campus green. This ground-level space, entered both from here and from an interior staircase (opening image), extends to a skylighted upper level, the Atrium Gallery. Each level is partially visible from the other, affording you a dramatic view of the installation. Additionally, a small gallery off this main space holds an installation by Gianluca Bianchino.
Here, work by John Avelluto, left and center; Lloyd Martin, and Carolanna Parlato
John Avelluto
Fresco Flex, 2023, acrylic on panel, 12 x 9 inches
Impasta Impasto, 2023, sculpted acrylic paint on panel
Detail
"I grew up in food. There were Sunday dinners at 3:00 in the afternoon downstairs at my maternal grandparents. My father worked at Il Cortile in Little Italy and then had his own restaurant in Port Chester. I worked there as a waiter to earn enough for grad school. Then I opened a small 20-person wine bar in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which I had for nine years."
Abstraction may not seem initially to be "Italian" or "Italian American," but the artists are informed by their culture, and sometimes there is a direct connection, whether architecture or nature, handwork, food, or the legacy of making things and making do
From left: Paul Fabozzi, Lloyd Martin, Carolanna Parlato
Paul Fabozzi
Above: CL (Rome, Ivo #2), 2018, oil on canvas, 48 x 32 inches
Below: Corviale #1, 2012, colored pencil and ink on Mylar mounted on paper, 35 x 27 inches framed
"Fueled by my decades-long engagement with Italy, my approach to painting and drawing has made me feel more deeply the extent to which spatial experience is the basis of perception."
Lloyd Martin
Large Carbon Riff, 2019, oil on canvas, 68 x 92 inches
"Much of what I am today I credit to my grandmother, Filomena Maccarone."
Don Porcaro, Carolanna Parlato
Carolanna Parlato
Juggler
Swipe Up, both 2022, acrylic on canvas, 42 x 36 inches
"My grandparents from both sides of the family brought Italy into my life."
Don Porcaro
Everybody Knows #29, 2023, marble, 13 x 14 x 7.5 inches on pedestal, 30 x 16 x 11 inches
"One of my earliest memories is of visiting my mother's uncle . . who opened a stone yard in Connecticut. Seeing all the stones, mostly monuments and gravestones, stacked up made a deep impression on me. . .
I can say that from the first time I cut a piece of stone, I knew that it felt right. It fed a driving need to work with a material that speaks to tradition, and I new that that tradition belonged to my culture."
Anna Patalano
Top: Demolished D, 2022, oil on linen panel, 18 x 18 inches
Bottom: Clashing Cs, 2022, oil on linen, 30 x 30 inches
"Perhaps because I was conceived in one country and born in another, I have always felt that I exist in a transitional limbo. The clashing of two sets of different value systems was, and still is, under constant negotiation. It's probably why I needed to make art early on. It became the only language I understand with which to express that negotiation."
Below: Closer view of Demolished D
Entrance to the gallery from inside the building
From left: Work by Claudia DeMonte, B. Amore; on far wall: Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi
B. Amore
Following the Thread IV: Concettina De Iorio, 1999; copper, wood, photo, fabric, thread, 24 x 48 x 3 inches
"We carry the history of out families and our cultures in our psyches as well as our genes."
Claudia DeMonte
Il Corno, 2013, pewter and gold leaf on wood, 14 x 3 x 3 inches
"It would be hard to be raised Italian American and not be influenced by the richness of Italian culture."
Above: Mapped Waters (Traced Homeland Series), 2021, mixed media on paper, app. 20 x 14 inches
Below: Forgotten and Now Remembered: 1985 Argentina, 2014, encaustic collagraph, pigmented wax, and pigment stick on panel; diptych, 40 x 60 inches
Now We Know Where We Are: 2008 Buenos Aires (Memory Terrain Series), 2017, encaustic monotype, pigmented wax, and oil on panel; diptych, 12 x 18 inches
"Growing up between continents and cultures has given me a sense of identity caught between worlds . . . I focus on themes connected to place, dislocation, exile, identity, and memory, These are some of the same issues my bisnonno experienced when he left Italy."
Claudie De Monte, foreground, with Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, left, and Timothy McDowell
Timothy McDowell
La Befana, left, and Spaghetti Western, both 2024, oil on panel, 48 x 48 inches
"What links me to my Italian roots is a sense of familiarity with certain places. My grandfather, Francesco, is buried in the mountains northeast of Genoa near the house where he as prior generations of family were born going back hundreds of years."
Installation view: Laura Moriarty, foreground; clockwise around: Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, Timothy McDowell, Nancy Azara
Below: McDowell, Azara, Schifano, with Moriarty sculpture in foreground
Laura MoriartyClockwise up from bottom: Hammerstone 3, Hammerstone 2, Hammerstone 5, Hammerstone 4, Hammerstone 1; all 2024, wax, various dimensions under 12 inches
"My grandmother, Anna Policella, taught me things about grace that are so deeply instinctive I cannot even put them into words, but I know her influence is indelible."
Installation view: Nancy Azara, Karen Schifano
Nancy Azara
From the Greve Series, 2015: Central Leaves with Blue, Seven Central Leaves with Blue, and Red Hand with Four Panels, all mixed media on Mylar
"I can tell you that I feel a creative bond to Italy, its countryside, its people, and its art. After all, my ancestors lived there for thousands of years, and I feel this history still within myself."
This exhibition is dedicated to Nancy Azara, who died on June 27, shortly after we selected this work. Ave atque vale, dear friend
Karen SchifanoTop: Hard Won, 2022
Below: Night Visitors, 2023; both flashe on canvas, 28 x 36 inches
"My paintings employs shapes that read as figure and ground, and sometimes windows, doorways, theater spaces (Italian opera!). They are imbued with an emotional narrative from my own life and times as I try to push abstraction into new territory."
Orienting you from the second level
Clockwise: Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi, Timothy McDowell, Nancy Azara on standing panel, Karen Schifano, Paul Fabozzi; sculpture: Laura Moriarty, Don Porcaro
Looking toward the campus entrance
John Monti on standing panel and back wall; Denise Sfraga; Don Porcaro and Laura Moriarty sculpture
Looking into the center of the gallery
Foreground: Laura Moriarty, Don Porcaro; on wall: Lloyd Martin, Carolanna Parlato, Anna Patalano; right: John Monti
Looking from the back of Don Porcaro sculpture toward the opposite wall with a grouping of framed work on paper by Angelica Bergamini
Angelica Bergamini
Long horizontal work: Solo Journey 2, monotype and paper sculpture on paper, 14 x 29 inches
"I have been thinking about how water connects my two lands: Italy, site of my origins, and New York City, where I have chosen to live."
Below I Will Meet You There #11, 2021, monotype and collage on paper
Installation view: Laura Moriarty, foreground; John Monti sculpture and oval painting; a glimpse of Denise Sfraga paintings
Detail of Black Frost, 2021, urethane resin, pigments, glitter, 40 c 19 x 14 inches
Below: Big Vine, 2021, reclaimed foam, eco resin, urethane resin, Kandy pigments, glitter, 38 x 29 x 3 inches
"Although I am not practicing, I consider myself a cultural Catholic. I love the function of ornament, the embellishments, the reliquaries, the rituals, and the organized design principles."
Installation view: John Monti, Denise Sfraga
"My grandfather lived a few blocks away from Green-Wood Cemetery, The Italian Catholic beliefs about death and rebirth have always resonated with me, and in some subliminal way my work has attempted to explore this duality."
Sick Sweet 1, 2024, colored pencil on paper mounted on wood panel, 14 x 11 inches
Gohone, 2023, flashe, acrylic, watercolor, photograph on paper mounted on wood panel, 24 x 18 inches
Petrichor, 2024, flashe, acrylic, oil pastel, photograph on wood panel, 48 x 36 inches
View up one level to the Atrium Gallery
Nancy Azara on lower level; Patricia Miranda above
Installation view in the Atrium Gallery
From left: Patricia Miranda; far end (barely visible; installation shot coming): three by Mary Schiliro; back wall: Elisa D'Arrigo, Lisa Zukowski; right wall: Jennifer Cecere, Milisa Galazzi
Elisa D'Arrigo
On wall: Reconstructed 1, 2008, handmade paper, cloth, pigments, thread, actulic medium, 15 x 11 x 5 inches and Reconstructed 5, 2009, handmade paper, thread, acrylic paint, marble dust, 18 x 8 x 8 inches; on pedestal, On a Limb, 2017, hand built and glazed ceramic, 6 x 12 x 8.5 inches
"Growing up first-generation Sicilian-Italian American, there was a pervasive do-it-yourself ethos, but also an express-yourself atmosphere, Everyone made things, repaired things, jerry-rigged things. That had a powerful effect on my sensibility and it is with me still."
Below: Closer view of
On a Limb
Continuing around the Atrium Gallery: Lisa Zukowski, Jennifer Cecere
Lisa Zukowski
On wall: Sotto Bosco, 2022, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
Sculptures, identified below, all 2018, terra cotta, encaustic, string
"The heritage of being blue-collar working class created a condition of secrecy that offered protection from the world outside the family. This has manifested strongly in my art. I almost always hide things in my work: secret meanings, hidden objects . . . they are wrapped up in string as a kind of safekeeping."
Things Fall Apart , 12 x 9.5 x 8 inches
Things Fall Apart II, 7 x 7.5 x 6 inches
Things Fall Apart VI, 7.5 x 7 x 6 inches
Jennifer Cecere
Rose Window, 36 inches diameter; Green Rose, 24 inches diameter; Red Star, 36 inches diameter; all 2011, acrylic on ripstop nylon
Below: closer view of
Rose Window
Milisa Galazzi
A conversation in thread between the artist and her grandmother about the value of sewing; all 2010, thread and encaustic on linen handkerchief with embroidery hoop. The artist is in white thread; Grammy in black
"I found her comments annoying, yet I appreciated learning the sewing skills."
hi, grammy
r u doing any handwork, dear?
b/c good girls should always be sewing
b/c a lady always mends and fixes
Installation view: Milisa Galazzi, Chris Costan
Glow Worm, 2016, fabrics and sewing notions on paper
Below: I Believe 4, 2023, textile pieces and mixed media on paper, both 17 x 21.5 inches framed
"My birth certificate liste me as Costantino, but when I was 5 years old and beginning public school, my mother shortened the name. She felt it would be easier for me if my origins were not clear. The extended family was disappointed. Once I reached graduate school, I thought about changing it back but felt it was too late. I suppose this is called assimilation."
Installation view: D. Dominick Lombardi
CCWS-53, 2020, mixed media, 18.25 x 25 x 5.25 inches
CCWS-25, 2018, mixed media, 21 x 14 x 12 inches; CCWS 53; CCWS 26, mixed media, 22 x 12 x 12 inches
"Like his father, my father was also a master carpenter with tremendous skills. Both taught me the correct way to use a variety of tools . . . skills that are at the core of my sculptural practice to this day. In addition, my grandfather's and father's obsession with salvaging materials made a great impression on me."
Installation view: D. Dominick Lombardi, Joanne Mattera
Joanne MatteraFrom left:
Silk Road 201, Silk Road 207, Silk Road 205, all 2014, encaustic on panel, 18 x 18 inches
"My maternal
bisnonne in Italy wove household linens on looms in their homes. My maternal grandfather, who immigrated here, was a tailor, and his daughter, Lena, was a dressmaker. Lena and her sister Antonette, my beloved aunts, taught me to sew, embroider, knit, and crochet. I learned to weave on my own. I make color field paintings that have an unmistakable visual relationship to fabric. It's in my DNA."
Below: Closer view of
Silk Road 2014
Installation view: Chris Costan, Patricia Miranda
Chris Costan
Watermelon Sugar, 2016, textile and mixed media, inframed view: 6 x 20 inches
Patricia Miranda
Lamentation for a Reasoned History, 2022, donated vintage lace, hand dyed with cochineal, ex-votos in plaster and paper clay, thread
"The immigrant experience for us, the descendants, holds commonalities shared by many. The homeland is a complex mix of familiarity and strangeness, of longing and connection, and of loss. The art, the land, the buildings, the bells of Italy speak deeply to my artistic heart."
Detail view
Patricia Miranda, Mary Schiliro
Mary Schiliro
Slice, Punch, Dip 1, 2018, acrylic paint on paper, 12 x 8 inches, as are the following two
"I finally made it to Sicily. I had been dreaming of going for many years. I wanted to feel totally immersed in the culture and spent three weeks traveling there. I had a feeling of coming full circle, imagining my grandparents, what their life was like there, and how they made the decision to leave for America."
Above: Slice, Punch, Dip 2 Below: Slice, Punch, Dip 3
Gianluca BianchinoInstallation: An Attempt to Communicate with Two Worlds at Once, 2024, video projectors, lights, light stands, tripods, photo umbrellas, electrical cord, acrylic paint
Above: the artist in the environment he created
Below: Immerse yourself in the space
"My oldest memory is of a powerful earthquake that devastated my native province of Avellino in November 1980. I was 3 years old. My family and I lived close to the epicenter. We survived and shortly moved to Paterson, New Jersey. I was a spectator in the early part of this journey, which often kept our small family divided on separate continents for long periods. I struggled to find continuity in the process of relocating several times between Italy and here."
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Photos: Timothy McDowell, Joanne Mattera
Deepest gratitude to Marcia Wood for her invaluable assistance with the installation, and to Timothy McDowell, a fine arts professor at the college, who was instrumental in bringing the exhibition there and who worked with me on all aspects of exhibition preparation.
Directions and hours
Connecticut College is at 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London.
Once you enter the campus, take a left at the gatehouse. You will pass The
Cummings Art Center on your right; slightly ahead, take a left to park in the
South lot. Walk back to the Art Center building. You will climb exterior stairs to the plaza, with the entrance straight ahead on your right. (The
gatehouse is open 24/7 if you need directional assistance.)
Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00; Saturday and
Sunday, 1:00-4:00.
More info here
What a magnificent exhibition. Each artwork is a jewel to delight in. Thanks for the fabulous work putting this show together.
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing show! I wish I were closer to see it in person. Thanks for sending me the link, Joanne Mattera.
ReplyDeleteA stunning compilation of varied works. It really shines Joanne.
ReplyDelete