Andriani Press Italy IAndriani Press Italy II
Chashama 112 is pleased to announce the upcoming two-person exhibition that presents Brooklyn-based artist Alex White Mazzarella (Mazza) and his renowned great grandfather Italian artist Giuseppe Andriani. The show is titled “Beyond the Line” and not only exhibits the art works from two different centuries but celebrates and explores the artistic blood passed down between generations. Some cultures speculate that the two artists share more than blood, as it was on the 14th of December when Giuseppe passed away and when Alex was born.
In “Beyond the Line”, Mazza reveals paintings from the recent body of work “Remixing Media to Remix Reality” alongside a retrospective of his great grandfather Andriani.
Building upon today’s street art and the neo-expressionism of the 80’s, Mazza mixed media paintings are fun yet provocative commentaries and assertions on today’s age and culture. They are abstract and spontaneous explosions of color and line that engage the viewer and often times compared to the work of Basquiat. In the 6 x 6 foot “Its A Lollipop World/Chupa Chup Mundo”, a beast human, and overlooking martian, contemplate devouring an earth lollipop in a landscape where star system lollipops are intermixed with elements of nature, skyscrapers, and development. With mixed textures, photographs, paints and charcoal, Mazza creates imagery amidst raw and alive surfaces that looks to also communicate the life embedded in city walls and surfaces found in New York City.
Giuseppe Andriani, who was born in Lecce (Puglia) in 1864 and died in Florence in 1948, dedicated his entire life to art. Influenced by Antonio Piccini, a famous engraver of 1800 in Italy, his repertoire of drawings, acqueforti (etchings), punte secche (dry point etchings) oil paintings and watercolors depicted scenes of his everyday life and surroundings. His sketches of the original Florence bridges which were destroyed during WWII, bring back to life Ponte alla Carraia, Ponte Santa Trinita and Ponte alla Vittoria. Rome’s Fine Arts Academy, the Florence Society of Fine Arts and the International Black and White Expo have honored Andriani’s work. On display are twelve of Andriani’s works.
“Beyond the Line” is curated by Taiwanese and New York based curator NuNu Hung.
Gallery Hours: Wed – Sun, 12:00 – 6:00 pm
Gallery Location: 112 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
