"Home" Video Installation

Home Video Installation, Firenze, Italia 2015

Home presents a video created in response to a large windstorm that hit the Tuscany region of Italy on March 5, 2015. This Intense weather pattern is a mere sign of the increasing impact of climate change internationally. Both people and animals are currently being forced to relocate their homes as a result of global warming, uprooting their cultures, their traditions, and ultimately having to adapt to new environments altogether. This piece shares individual's ideas and the importance of the meaning of the word "home".  

What is Home? - Spring 2015

This series discusses the idea of what the word "Home" means.  The following sculptures are formed by utilizing materials taken from our natural world and juxtaposing them with man made / manufactured components. This is a search to examine the urgent need for humans to make peace with our planet.

Materials:

sticks, chain, steel, metal bed springs, brick, dirt, clay, rope, marble, turmeric, flowers, lemons, limes

photos courtesy of Ana Lia Orezzoli
http://analiapop.tumblr.com

Zanzara art series in progress

This fall I started a series on the "zanzara," which is how you pronounce the word "mosquito" in italian. In keeping with my upcoming trip to the Arctic Circle next June, this series discusses the role of the mosquito in this region and its impact on the environment due to the increase in rising temperatures. Warmer seasons are coming earlier and lasting longer, and large amounts of mosquitos are rampant in the lower Arctic areas. Entire swarms have been observed surrounding one caribou and sucking enough blood out of it in one day to kill it. THAT is power in numbers.

I started off with these charcoal/pastel sketches below.....

I then moved on to oil paintings on wood, 50 cm x 70 cm in size. Pietro Manzo is a fabulous and outstanding painter here in Firenze, and he was my professor/mentor while creating these paintings.
(You can check out his wonderful work here:  www.pietromanzo.net)

Playing around with the concept of mosquitos as sculptures, I wanted to use materials from

the earth to exhibit how these tiny, fragile creatures have such a strong presence to cause huge damage to our eco system.  Below are three pieces symbolizing this idea.

zanzara #1: travertine, fresh flowers

zanzara #2: marble, fur, tree branch

zanzara #3: travertine, caribou antlers

Dario Arcamone is a super skilled sculptor living in Toscana who mentored me with these pieces. I broke a rock or two while carving and he was always there to walk me through everything and find solutions. 

Daria Filardo (http://www.celesteprize.com/dariafilardo) is a mind blowing curator and art historian who has taught me crazy amounts of information this fall. She really helped me cess out concept issues with this sculpture series.  

I also worked closely with John Taylor - an exceptional person/academic/sculptor and will continue to do so this spring in prepping for the Arctic residency. 

Again, this series is in progress, so I will post more next spring as additional pieces come together.

Thanks for checking it out! 

:)

London / The Frieze Art Fair

Quick trip to London last week for the Frieze Art Fair - it was fantastic seeing the top galleries in their field representing artists from regions worldwide: Antwerp, Berlin, San Paulo, Shanghai, Romania, Istanbul, and many more.....here are a few photos from the fair below. Also to note: I  trecked to the National Gallery and viewed "Rembrandt, The Late Works", the National Portrait Gallery for the "The Real Tudors: Kings and Queens Rediscovered," and the Tate Modern to see the Sigmar Polke and Kazimir Malevich exhibitions. I highly recommend the Malovich! I saved my favorite for last: Nicola Samori's solo show at the Rosenfeld Porcini Gallery - the work was outstanding. 

New Art Studio in Firenze.........

Here are some quick photos of my new art studio - I am just moving in and I think Frida digs it as much as I do - check out the gorgeous ceiling! Doesn't get much better :)