Alan Macdonald There is a cool, quiet elegance to Alan Macdonald's paintings, which belies the disequilibrium at their heart. His figures, grey eyed and dreaming, might be time travellers, drawing distant cousinship from the portraits of Rembrandt or Frans Hals. His bucolic northern landscapes lay claim to an equally venerable artistic heritage. But if an accretion of the art historical past informs his imagery, it is transposed into a world where confidence has been lost, where the spiritual beliefs and myths which once bound man to nature, and through nature, to the divine, fail to connect. These are beautiful paintings, all the more potent for their distilled sense of calm. Macdonald gives us no answers, but the questions he raises about the search for faith and identity in a difficult modern world touch a nerve, and in the faces of his pilgrims, we recognise ourselves. Jane Burton http://www.alanmacdonald.net/
The Tyranny of beauty Jean-Charles de Castelbajac September 11 → October 23, 2010 Slash Gallery
Following a first solo show in London, The Triumph of Sign, an installation on the Pont Neuf, Astronomy Domine, and in keeping with the same obsession, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac now brings us The Tyranny of Beauty at La B.A.N.K.
For the past 40 years, Castelbajac has been using detourn and appropriations to create bridges between practices and signs and to trigger questions.
The tyranny in question is that of an insatiable need to please, of youth’s domination, of a quest for immortality and of the denial of time past.
Castelbajac adds trait, logo, sign or brand obliteration to classic master paintings. As if creams, capsules or other artifices could open up a path to and stamp their radiant faces with indelible copyrights.
The Chinese copyists’ oil paintings are based on ancestral techniques. They reduce to the state of manufacture a selection of Western Art’s masterpieces. By reproducing works from our heritage, the artist reclaims History and images of beauty at their height of refinement. His aim is to demonstrate that everyone can do beauty and good, like in the Snow White syndrome in a series of Flanders tapestries.
Niba, impeccabile nell’esecuzione delle sue opere in terracotta, curate nei minimi dettagli e interamente realizzate e dipinte a mano, espone, in questa personale romana, dopo un’approfondita analisi sugli atteggiamenti e le espressioni del mondo felino. Il risultato può essere considerato un capitolo di una ricerca visiva in bilico tra umano e animale dal titolo “The Beauty and the Beast”. Protagonisti sono gli sphinx: gatti che evocano un concetto di bellezza che orbita attorno al suo contrario. http://www.niba.info/
Lorenzo Mattotti vive e lavora a Parigi. Esordisce alla fine degli anni 70 come autore di fumetti e nei primi anni 80 fonda con altri disegnatori il gruppo Valvoline. Nel 1984 realizza Fuochi, che, accolto come un evento nel mondo del fumetto, vincerà importanti premi internazionali. Con "Incidenti" , "Signor Spartaco", "Doctor Nefasto" "L'uomo alla finestra" e molti altri libri fino a "Stigmate" edito in Italia da Einaudi, il lavoro di Mattotti si è evoluto secondo una costante di grande coerenza, ma nel segno eclettico di chi sceglie sempre di provarsi nel nuovo. Oggi i suoi libri sono tradotti in tutto il mondo. Pubblica su quotidiani e riviste come The New Yorker, Le Monde, Das Magazin, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Nouvel Observateur, Corriere della Sera e Repubblica. Per la moda, ha interpretato i modelli dei più noti stilisti sulla rivista Vanity. Per l'infanzia illustra vari libri tra cui "Pinocchio" e"Eugenio" che vince nel '93 il Grand Prix di Bratislava, uno dei massimi riconoscimenti nell'editoria per ragazzi. Numerose le sue esposizioni personali tra le quali l'antologica al Palazzo delle Esposizioni di Roma, al FransHals museum di Haarlem ai Musei di Porta Romana . Tra le ultime pubblicazioni: " Il rumore della brina" "Jekyll & Hyde" per Einaudi e "Angkor - Carnet de voyage" e "I Manifesti di Mattotti" edito da Nuages. Realizza manifesti, copertine, campagne pubblicitarie ed è suo il manifesto di Cannes 2000 e i manifesti per l'Estate Romana. Ha recentemente collaborato a "Eros" di Wong Kar way - Soderbergh e Antonioni curando i segmenti di presentazione di ogni episodio.
Lorenzo Mattotti was born in 1954. After studying architecture, he decided to devote himself to comics and is recognised today as one of the most outstanding international exponents of the art. His works have been published in the most important magazines and his books are translated all over the world. From "Il signor Spartaco", "L'uomo alla finestra", "Stigmate""Ligne fragile", and many other works, up to "Fires" and "Murmur" published by Penguin Books in 1993, Mattotti's work has evolved with a continuing coherence, though always within the eclectic tradition of those who have the courage to be innovative. For children he has illustrated "Pinocchio" by Collodi, "The Pavilion on the Links" by Stevenson and has published "Eugenio" that had the Grand Prix of Bratislava in 93. Mattotti has also worked in the fashion world, reinterpreting the models of the most famous fashion designers for "Vanity" magazine. He has carried out advertising campaigns and has illustrated the cover of such magazines as The New Yorker, Le Monde and Suddeutsche Zeitung. In 1995, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome and The Frans Hals Museum in Harlem dedicated an anthology to him. He realized many important posters: Cannes 2000 - "Lire en Fête" "La Marie de Paris". Recently he worked in the Film "Eros" of Wong Kar Way - Soderbergh et Antonioni, he creates the segments within the three episodes.
RAY CAESAR Sogni di cristallo 5 Dec 5 2009 - Jan 28 2010
Pesonale di Ray Caesar a Mondo Bizzarro Gallery. Nato a Londra nel 1958, Caesar vive a Toronto da circa 40 anni. Le sue mostre si sono tenute prevalentemente negli Stati Uniti, ma anche in Canada, in Australia, in Francia e in Inghilterra. Laureato in architettura presso l´ Art College for Design & Architecture di Ontario, Ray Caesar ha lavorato come illustratore all´interno del dipartimento di arte e fotografia medica di un ospedale pediatrico di Toronto. Parallelamente, ha operato per diversi anni nell'industria del cinema e della televisione, come addetto agli effetti speciali e all´animazione digitale, oltre a dedicarsi alla pittura. Solo quando decide di lasciare il lavoro, dopo una serie di eventi dolorosi che colpiscono la sua vita privata, egli diviene l´artista che oggi conosciamo. Abbandona la pittura e da quel momento la sua immaginazione, arricchita dai suoi ricordi, dalle sensazioni e dalle riflessioni su ciò che ha vissuto, trova forma in figure tridimensionali che realizza al computer con il programma "Maya", operando in maniera simile a quando lavorava nell'industria del cinema. In un´intervista, l´artista dice di voler costruire mondi protetti, paradisi onirici in cui l´odio e la paura (temi a lui particolarmente cari) trovano una diversa collocazione. Le figure umane che egli costruisce sono senza tempo, seducenti e luminose come cristalli, tali da emanare il fascino di gelidi angeli, simboli di assoluta purezza capaci di sfidare qualsiasi forma di crudeltà e ingiustizia. Nella nuova personale romana verranno presentate le sue opere recenti, alcune ancora inedite e in grande formato, insieme a una selezione di rarissime opere famose realizzate fra il 2003 e il 2008
I was born in London England in 1958 and the youngest of a very strange and sometimes frightening family. When I was fifteen I met a girl called Michiko and I have been in love with her ever since. Due to a twist of fate I ended up working in a Children's Hospital for 17 years and although I didn't like the job very much it changed my life and led me down a path to where I am now. Those years taught me about the cruelties of Man and Nature but also that Miracles do exist and are often the product of our own actions. I make pictures all day because I really don't have a choice in the matter and I am lucky that I love doing it ...there was a time I hated doing it but that is nicely packaged in pretty paper and put away in the past. I beleive that you must have both sunlight and moonlight to see the truth. I am a bit of a hermit and usually have to have an internal argument to open the front door and step outside my house. I never learned to drive a car because I believe that red is the color of action and green is a calming color ... so I walk through life slowly and that has been a blessing............well enough about me! .....did I mention I love dogs ?
Omaggio a Trevor Brown, uno dei più geniali e provocatori artisti inglesi contemporaneiGeniale e provocatorio.
Definito “uno dei tesori più grandi dell'arte britannica”. L’innovatore dell'arte pop-erotica giapponese lavora e vive a Tokyo dall'inizio degli anni '90.
Homage to Trevor Brown, one of the most brilliant and provocative contemporary English artists.Brilliant and provocative.
He’s defined “one of British art's greatest treasures”. The innovator of Japanese erotic pop art works and lives in Tokyo since the early Nineties
Bambine e orsacchiotti apparentemente innocenti calati in atmosfere sinistre e spesso inquietanti. Un universo fatto di lolite piene di lividi e manichini. Candide bamboline piene di lividi, imbavagliate, legate da stretti lacci e sezionate. Trevor Brown è un provocatore che con la sua arte mette a nudo le contraddizioni della società. Lo humour nero è parte integrante delle sue opere.
Apparently innocent little girls and teddy bears let down in sinister and often alarming atmospheres. A universe made of battered lolitas and crash test dummies. Candid dolls full of bruises, gaged, tied from tightened laces and dissected. He’s a provoker, and with his art he reveals the contradictions of the society. There is a sort of black humour in his works of art.
Colin Christian was born in London on March 30th 1964 to a loving and outgoing mother. He hated school and apart from art classes found the whole thing rather frustrating and useless. At the age of 15 he left school and lived for a year in Morocco with his mother, brother and sister. The cultural difference was very liberating. Upon his return to England at 16 he worked at a record music store and in 1982 became a DJ and was a stage manager for a large nightclub in the south of England. This is where he met his wife Sas in 1989.
In 1992 Colin moved to the U.S where he and his wife started a small business making latex clothing for fetish stores around the country. Their work was featured in Penthouse and Skin Two magazines. Taking what he had learned from the clothing manufacturing and combining it with his interest in movie special fx, Colin started to produce fiberglass figures and displays. In 1998 he produced his first production figure, an anime girl called "Suki" - a towering 7 feet tall and anatomically correct.
Colin decided to put his career on hold for a few years to take up commercial sculpture. Sas was developing as a painter and if this was to be encouraged she had to be able to devote herself full time, learning how to paint. The commercial work paid the bills for both of them and would support them both until Sas was ready to support herself. During this time Colin produced pieces for stores, museums and various businesses. A robot he made for the American Heart Association was interviewed by Katie Couric on the Today show and he also constructed the worlds largest mousetrap for pest control company Truly Nolen, which is now featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Colin now works full time on his original sculptures, finding inspiration in old sci-fi movies, pinup girl/supermodels, anime, ambient electronic music and H.P. Lovecraft. In 2004 he started using silicone in his sculptures, a difficult material to use but one that helps him achieve his goal of true cartoon realism, a line drawing made flesh. He is not looking to create every imperfection and flaw, but to take the exaggerations and perfections of cartoons and make them into a realistic 3D form.
Sas Christian was born in London and studied in the UK before moving to Florida. In 1999 Sas began painting, anime being her main influence. She started with acrylics, and then in 2003 moved to oils -- teaching herself as she went. Now she has presented her works in Florida, New York, California,etc. and is starting to show in Europe.
