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ROME (AP) — The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.”
The digital rendition of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece “Birth of Venus,” can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the original, this Venus is fully clothed. The influencer claims to be 30, or “maybe just a wee bit (older) than that.”
But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash — with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
The tourist campaign “trivializes our heritage in the most vulgar way, transforming Botticelli’s Venus into yet another stereotyped female beauty,” Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage campaign organization, said in a response to the project last month.
The yearlong campaign, produced by national tourism agency ENIT and advertising group Armando Testa, is estimated to have cost 9 million euros (about $9.9 million), according to ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic.
Jelinic said that the campaign was designed for overseas markets to attract younger tourists. The online Venus launched in Italy on April 20 and made her international debut in Dubai at the Arabian Travel Market earlier this week.
“We liked the idea that it would be a work of art that is timeless,” Jelinic told The Associated Press, adding that Botticelli’s Venus “seemed to us like a immortal icon who could represent Italy well.”
Already the new Venus has been memed mercilessly online, appearing among trash bins, alongside Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, and in other less-than godly places.
The criticism extends beyond the use of a masterpiece to the manner in which the campaign was orchestrated, including its use of stock images and other gaffes like a promotional video featuring a winery in Slovenia, used as a stand-in for Italy.
An even greater sin for many is the campaign’s slogan, “Open to Meraviglia” (Open to Wonder), because it mixes English into an Italian tourist campaign even as the country’s government seeks to protect the Italian language as a pillar of its culture.
There are other language faux pas.
On the campaign’s website, an automatic translator turned Brindisi, a southern Italian port town, into its literal English definition: “Toast,” according to Matteo Flora, a professor at the University of Pavia. That part of the website has now been obscured.
“Let’s not talk about the creativity point of view,” said Flora, “You may like (the campaign) or not, but on a technical point of view, it has been… a sort of avalanche of problems.”
That includes a failure to secure domains, allowing anyone to snatch the material and mock the project with it.
Flora said the campaign also wasted money. The campaign’s creative team chose to use the “intelligence of human creativity,” rather than artificial intelligence, to build the virtual Venus — but Flora showed how he could quickly come up with a similar campaign using AI at a cost of 20 euros. His social media posts have been shared by thousands of people.
The use of a likeness of Botticelli’s masterpiece has been lambasted by art historians as well, who say it vastly diminishes the beauty and mystery of the 15th century original.
“Perhaps Botticelli would not be happy about this,” said Massimo Moretti, a professor of art history at the University of Rome, Sapienza.
Any use of an iconic image like the “Birth of Venus” risks striking a cultural nerve, marketing experts say.
“The more you try to alter something that’s historic, probably the greater the outcry,” said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business.
“People are going to say, ‘You’re changing the culture. You’re changing who we are, because it’s part of our history,’” Chiagouris added.
“I didn’t like the fact that they used the Botticelli Venus like that, since it is a piece of art,” Riccardo Rodrigo, a high school student in Rome, said. “They made it something social friendly to amuse Gen Z, I think it was unnecessary since it can be used just like it is and not modified like they did.”
The Uffizi Galleries, which houses Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” in Florence, declined to comment on the campaign.
For the creators of the campaign, however, any press is good press.
“It has become so viral,” said Jelinic of ENIT, adding that “web users have made her come alive” even when placing the new Venus in unglamorous places.
“I find (it) interesting in terms of social communication,” Jelinic said. “Our campaign is more appealing than (critics) want to admit.”
Tourism officials plan to expand the campaign through the use of billboards as well as video screens in airports and railways.
____
Grantham-Philips reported from Washington, D.C.
ROME — The Italian tourism ministry thought it had a sure-fire way to bring travelers into the country: turning a 15th century art icon into a 21st century “virtual influencer.”
The digital rendition of Venus, goddess of love, based on Sandro Botticelli’s Renaissance masterpiece “Birth of Venus,” can be seen noshing on pizza and snapping selfies for her Instagram page. Unlike the original, this Venus is fully clothed. The influencer claims to be 30, or “maybe just a wee bit (older) than that.”
But the new ad campaign is facing significant backlash — with critics calling it a “new Barbie” that trashes Italy’s cultural heritage.
The tourist campaign “trivializes our heritage in the most vulgar way, transforming Botticelli’s Venus into yet another stereotyped female beauty,” Livia Garomersini, an art historian and activist with Mi Riconosci, an art and heritage campaign organization, said in a response to the project last month.
The yearlong campaign, produced by national tourism agency ENIT and advertising group Armando Testa, is estimated to have cost 9 million euros (about $9.9 million), according to ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic.
Jelinic said that the campaign was designed for overseas markets to attract younger tourists. The online Venus launched in Italy on April 20 and made her international debut in Dubai at the Arabian Travel Market earlier this week.
“We liked the idea that it would be a work of art that is timeless,” Jelinic told The Associated Press, adding that Botticelli’s Venus “seemed to us like a immortal icon who could represent Italy well.”
Already the new Venus has been memed mercilessly online, appearing among trash bins, alongside Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, and in other less-than godly places.
The criticism extends beyond the use of a masterpiece to the manner in which the campaign was orchestrated, including its use of stock images and other gaffes like a promotional video featuring a winery in Slovenia, used as a stand-in for Italy.
An even greater sin for many is the campaign’s slogan, “Open to Meraviglia” (Open to Wonder), because it mixes English into an Italian tourist campaign even as the country’s government seeks to protect the Italian language as a pillar of its culture.
There are other language faux pas.
On the campaign’s website, an automatic translator turned Brindisi, a southern Italian port town, into its literal English definition: “Toast,” according to Matteo Flora, a professor at the University of Pavia. That part of the website has now been obscured.
“Let’s not talk about the creativity point of view,” said Flora, “You may like (the campaign) or not, but on a technical point of view, it has been… a sort of avalanche of problems.”
That includes a failure to secure domains, allowing anyone to snatch the material and mock the project with it.
Flora said the campaign also wasted money. The campaign’s creative team chose to use the “intelligence of human creativity,” rather than artificial intelligence, to build the virtual Venus — but Flora showed how he could quickly come up with a similar campaign using AI at a cost of 20 euros. His social media posts have been shared by thousands of people.
The use of a likeness of Botticelli’s masterpiece has been lambasted by art historians as well, who say it vastly diminishes the beauty and mystery of the 15th century original.
“Perhaps Botticelli would not be happy about this,” said Massimo Moretti, a professor of art history at the University of Rome, Sapienza.
Any use of an iconic image like the “Birth of Venus” risks striking a cultural nerve, marketing experts say.
“The more you try to alter something that’s historic, probably the greater the outcry,” said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business.
“People are going to say, ‘You’re changing the culture. You’re changing who we are, because it’s part of our history,'” Chiagouris added.
“I didn’t like the fact that they used the Botticelli Venus like that, since it is a piece of art,” Riccardo Rodrigo, a high school student in Rome, said. “They made it something social friendly to amuse Gen Z, I think it was unnecessary since it can be used just like it is and not modified like they did.”
The Uffizi Galleries, which houses Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” in Florence, declined to comment on the campaign.
For the creators of the campaign, however, any press is good press.
“It has become so viral,” said Jelinic of ENIT, adding that “web users have made her come alive” even when placing the new Venus in unglamorous places.
“I find (it) interesting in terms of social communication,” Jelinic said. “Our campaign is more appealing than (critics) want to admit.”
Tourism officials plan to expand the campaign through the use of billboards as well as video screens in airports and railways.
____
Grantham-Philips reported from Washington, D.C.
WATERVILLE — Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce welcomes Bridget Campbell as its new marketing and membership director. She will be replacing Brandi Meisner, who was VP of operations, and has left to work for her family businesses Maine Cedar Hot Tubs and Skowhegan Wooden Rule Co., following two years in her position.
Bridget Campbell Submitted photo
Campbell, who was advertising operations manager for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, had served 27 years over two different time periods throughout her newspaper career in various creative and management roles.
A graduate of Waterville Senior High School, Campbell graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in communications and a minor in art. Campbell began her career at the newspaper as a graphic designer in 1985, creating ads by hand, prior to computers, winning numerous awards for her designs. In 1996 she started her own business, Papermoon Graphics, where she assisted many local businesses with their graphic design needs. During this time, she also followed one of her other passions, theater, as set designer and technical director for Waterville Senior High School Thespian Troupe 2926, as well as being in and involved with many productions at the Waterville Opera House. Campbell later worked at the Waterville Opera House as production manager and Box Office manager. Her latest employment prior to coming to the chamber was as advertising manager for the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Included in her new duties at the chamber is new member procurement and retention, marketing and communications of the numerous chamber events and programs through print and social media platforms, website development and maintenance, tourism promotions and the production of the Better Living in Mid-Maine Map and Guidebook, among other duties.
Mid-Maine Chamber President and CEO Kimberly Lindlof said of Campbell, “Bridget brings a vast knowledge of marketing expertise, management experience and business connectivity to our team. Staff and volunteers alike are pleased to welcome her onboard.”
Campbell resides in Winslow with her husband, John. They have a daughter, Haley, who is assistant creative director for Thomas College.
Subversive street artist Banksy is not a fan of museums and galleries, once writing that inside their rooms, “you are simply a tourist looking at the trophy cabinet of a few millionaires”.
Nor does the famously anti-capitalist mystery Brit support people profiting from his work. In 2022 he accused fashion giant Guess of “helping themselves” to his motifs. In 2018 he shredded his own painting Girl with Balloon, after it sold for almost $1.9 million (a move that ultimately backfired, increasing its value exponentially).
It’s no surprise, then, that Banksy has not endorsed an exhibition of his art that landed in Australia this week; he denounced a previous iteration of the show as a “fake”, “organised entirely without the artist’s knowledge or involvement”.
But, like the artist himself, the people behind The Art of Banksy: Without Limits are unapologetic.
“This is how it has to be,” curator Kemal Gurkaynak, a Turkish businessman, tells ABC Arts.
“I have been criticised for taking art off the streets and onto the walls, but it is important to share it with people. Banksy underlines messages that could save humanity. It is about raising awareness of what’s happening in our world, what’s happening in Gaza, what’s happening in Syria, what’s happening in the Mediterranean. People are still dying out there.”
Mr Gurkaynak is the managing director of Muse Marketing and Entertainment, which has partnered with Fever – a company that helps stage and promote events – for the exhibition, which has previously shown in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US.
Its first Australian stop is in Brisbane, with Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth to follow (dates and venues are yet to be confirmed).
At Brisbane’s Queens Plaza mall, in the CBD, the entrance – which draws inspiration from Banky’s 2015 apocalyptic theme-park Dismaland – is sandwiched between a Thai restaurant and a dumpling house.
Once home to a Coles supermarket, the vast space is now an homage to the master of stencil graffiti.
There are several rooms exploring Banky’s key political messages – around conflict, consumerism, capitalism – through murals, prints, sculptures and installations. One section is dedicated to Banksy’s activism for refugees, another includes reproductions of several murals that appeared in war-torn Ukraine last year.
There is also a mirrored “infinity room” where animations of Banksy’s art are projected onto the walls, ceiling and floor – think blockbuster digital exhibitions Van Gogh Alive or Monet and Friends, on a smaller scale.
The exhibition includes several of the artist’s best-known works and motifs – Kissing Coppers, Girl With Balloon, Laugh Now, and repeated rats and monkeys – as well as more confronting murals, including Napalm: an image of Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald frolicking with “Napalm girl”.
Of the 150 works on display, 34 are certified originals – the private collection of Mr Gurkaynak and his partner.
It can be hard to tell if you are viewing a reproduction or not. For Mr Gurkaynak, authenticity is beside the point – real or replica, each work’s ability to provoke thought is what matters.
If it were up to him, there wouldn’t even be wall plaques providing additional context for the pieces: “The art is the storyteller. It’s not like looking at a Picasso or a Michelangelo – Banksy is shaking you.”
(Banksy would likely prefer this too; it is not hard to imagine him cringing at the text beside his stencil Because I’m Worthless, which reads: “A delicious send-up of the nauseating, ubiquitous, vapid L’Oreal campaign strapline … We don’t suppose L’Oreal asked Banksy to do a commercial for them, though he clearly is so worth it.”)
Bringing the spirit of street art to an indoor venue was never going to be easy, and even though the exhibition has been adapted to fit the venue, there is a dissonance between its stark white walls and its gritty themes.
For fans, it may be impossible to shake the knowledge that it’s being staged without the blessing of Banksy, who famously said nobody should have to pay to see graffiti — only to have it removed.
Under UK law, Banksy automatically owns the copyright to his works, allowing him to claim royalties and have a say over how they are used.
But there’s a catch: For him to ever enforce his copyright, he would need to prove he is the “unquestionable owner” of the work – and that would mean revealing his identity.
In his 2005 book Wall and Piece, Banksy wrote that “copyright is for losers” – comments later cited by the European Union Intellectual Property Office as it ruled against him in a trademark case (a judgement that was subsequently overturned).
But Banksy draws a distinction between the use of his work for “personal amusement” and for profit.
“I wrote ‘copyright is for losers’ in my (copyrighted) book and still encourage anybody to take and amend my art for their own personal amusement, but not for profit or making it look like I’ve endorsed something when I haven’t,” he states on his website.
Mr Gurkaynak is adamant he is not doing anything wrong.
“Once I started to do this business, [I asked] one of my friends who owns a gallery, ‘If I put a Banksy artwork inside the gallery and I put a table at the door and I charge $5 for people to come in, is it legal or illegal? It’s 100 per cent legal,” he told ABC Arts.
“And then if I put more things [in the gallery] related to the artist? No problem.”
While street art is usually seen for free, Mr Gurkaynak says The Art of Banksy: Without Limits, which is ticketed at $38-$40 for an adult, is a special case.
“If you wanted to see 150 pieces of Banksy, it would take three or four years, and you will spend a fortune travelling all over the world,” he says.
“And don’t forget, a lot of what Banksy is doing is stolen for the black market. So you cannot always go onto the street and see the art.”
There is no doubt about the widespread appeal of Banksy, who, like Warhol before him, has been credited with opening up the art world to those who did not previously feel included.
The Art of Banksy: Without Limits is perhaps best viewed as a celebration of the artist and his philosophy – an exhibition about Banksy, rather than a Banksy exhibition.
It offers an (unauthorised) opportunity to view Banksy’s work at scale – and reflect on the big messages that emerge.
“You can come and spend one hour, and it maybe changes your worldview, how you think about things,” Mr Gurkaynak says.
“Banksy underlines issues with war, terrorism, refugees, too many other things. That is why we invest in this. That is why we are putting the artwork, and his intelligence, on display.”
The Art of Banksy: Without Limits is in Brisbane until July 8 and will then head to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Perth.
GERMANTOWN — If you have a guitar and you call yourself an artist, most people would assume you are a guitar player, but that’s not the case for one Germantown artist.
Sarah Gallenberger is a painter, and instead of using a canvas for her work, she chooses guitars.
“I think that it’s really rewarding to just see my work on a stage with lots of people enjoying the music watching the show. It’s just really exciting as opposed to painting a canvas,” Gallenberger said.
For the past decade her life has revolved around guitars. Gallenberger works with the popular guitar brand Fender. Customers will order a specialty guitar from the Fender Custom Shop. Then Fender will reach out to her to add a one-of-a-kind painting to the body. It takes Sarah about 40 hours to finish one design. The guitars range from $5,000 to $20,000.
“Right now, I am only working with Fender just because they have kept me so busy,” she said.
That means you can’t send her a message to order a custom paint job. However, she does paint guitars for free for the local charity Guitars for Vets. It’s a Kenosha-based organization that gives veterans free guitars and lessons as a form of therapy. Gallenberger paints guitars that are no longer fit to play and the organization auctions them off.
This all happened accidentally. In 2011 she was unemployed. Sarah was looking for marketing jobs and asked her friend at Fender if any positions were open. Instead, that friend referred her to the custom shop and the rest is history.
“Like I said I was always a hobby artist a hobby crafter,” Gallenberger said. “It really took other people to recognize that I had this eye for visual art and original design.”
Most of her guitars are bought by customers overseas. She’s currently working on an order of 12 custom designs for a German music shop. She has also made guitars for the Japanese rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel.
“I’ve seen those guitars on stage in the Tokyo Dome and other big venues in Japan which is just really exciting to see.”
As popular as her work is, this is just her side gig.
“I like having a regular job as well where I can go to an office a few days a week and be around people and participate in things like potlucks. Being a freelance artist, you’re alone a lot of the time.”
However, there are certainly people who wish she would make the switch since she has a two-year waitlist for custom guitars.
Funny enough, Gallenberger isn’t even a guitarist. She grew up around guitars and family members who play, but strumming a six string never struck a chord with her.
“I can play a few chords I can play the ukulele a little bit, but I am better at painting.”
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FORT MYERS, Fla. — The City of Fort Myers wants to focus on art in the city by creating a new arts and culture division. The goal is to bring together arts, culture, special events, tourism and marketing under one team.
Under the division, they will also provide artists opportunities to showcase their work across the city. Apart of the plan is to provide money to non-profits and artists to create work to represent out area.
“Art is something that can save somebody’s life, something that can brighten somebody’s day, something that can move somebody’s heart,” said Richard Bravo, a local artist.
His work is inside the Gulf Coast Leisure office in downtown Fort Myers. He says art saved him and says it’s what our community needs post Ian.
“It could ignite and give an energy that’s obviously not supposed to happen because there’s so much loss,” Bravo said.
The goal of the division is to unite local artists and make the area even more vibrant.
“We want to see art in our sidewalks, we want to see art in our rooftops,” said Liz Bello-Matthews, the city spokesperson. “We want to see art pieces throughout the city. A lot of times we have our artists community not really being able to get the word out of the lovely things that they’re doing.”
They’ve had grants before, but this time they’re letting artists apply if they want to collaborate on one project. Also new to the grants: the projects could potentially be permanent.
“It’s endless talent in the City of Fort Myers and really all of Lee County,” Bello-Matthews said.
While Bravo is happy to see this opportunity come from the city, he wants to see more galleries for artists, too.
“You really need more spaces if you’re going to call it an arts and culture area,” he said.
While applications for the grants do not open up until May 10, Bravo said he has an idea of what he would paint, if he gets the opportunity.
“I would say phoenix out of the ashes, something to show that from everything that happened during the hurricane, we have just transcended to greatness,” he said.
An idea to display the story of Fort Myers and its resilience.
You can still look at the city’s website for more information about the new division before the application process starts.
ASHLAND, Ore. — Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Nataki Garrett has resigned from the organization, with her last day slated to be May 31.
According to a news release from OSF, board member Octavio Solis will take on additional responsibilities to help with the transition. Solis said the organization will immediately search for their next artistic director.
“We are actively conducting a search for an interim Artistic Director to ferry the company through the season, to which we are unwaveringly committed,” Solis said in the news release. “In the meantime, we, the board, along with the staff, artists, and audiences, offer our steadfast guidance and support to the company as the 2023 season opens.”
OSF’s Board of Directors Executive Committee will work on development, marketing and finance work during the transition, the release said. Board members Tony Drummond and Diane Yu will serve as co-leaders of the leadership transition — a temporary board structure that OSF expects to last for three to four months.
The announcement comes nearly a month after OSF announced an emergency fundraising campaign to help them through the 2023 season and beyond, with a goal of raising $1.5 million by June, citing challenges from the pandemic that have affected the theatre industry as a whole.
“OSF will continue to fundraise to complete the season. Garrett was instrumental in helping to launch the campaign, inviting Kamilah Long, Director of Development, to OSF to launch the current grassroots campaign, which has raised $1M in one week,” the release said. “By honoring and building from Garrett’s work and carrying the legacy of Angus Bowmer and other past leaders of OSF, the Board will support staff in ensuring the Festival celebrates its 90-year anniversary and beyond.”
Garrett joined the organization in August 2019, causing her to oversee OSF as it adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic and Almeda Fire.
“As the first Black female artistic director in OSF’s 88-year history, Garrett’s appointment was historic. Her work encompassed current and emerging technologies and media, reaching not only the stage, but digital and film,” the release said. “During the shutdown, she raised $19M after fundraising and successfully galvanizing a cohort of Oregon arts leaders to secure funding for the state’s performing arts organizations from the federal relief fund package. She started a nationwide advocacy coalition for non-profit theaters, the Professional Non-Profit Theater Coalition (PNTC), in 2020 that provided access to $15B in SVOG (Shuttered Venues Operator Grants) relief funding.”
The news release did not explicitly mention Garrett’s reasons for resigning. NewsWatch 12 called two different phone numbers and did not get a response. The article will be updated with more information.
Garrett’s full statement is below.
I am leaving with gratitude and great respect for the many talented people I have come to know and work with here at OSF, who work tirelessly to make sure the show must go on” says Garrett, I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this organization for the past 4 years as we collectively navigated one of the most challenging times in the Festival’s history.
I have always centered the work on our stages both live and digital, as cultural justice and I remain committed to ensuring the work of the theater expands our capacity for empathy and our world view. This season is a reflection of what I set out to do when I came to OSF: center the artists as thought leaders who transform culture. This version of OSF centers Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) work. We are a company of artists who know we are valued, are engaged with the work with ownership, and who value the company because they know the company values them. They deserve, and OSF deserves, the community’s ongoing support.
I remain hopeful that, despite the challenges still ahead for OSF and our industry as a whole, that the Festival will become a container for the future so that generations who come can continue OSF’s legacy of groundbreaking art making.
“Narcissus” (2023), ink on paper, 51 x 66 centimeters. All images © Max Naylor, shared with permission
Working in vivid washes of ink and oil paint, artist Max Naylor renders impressionistic dreamscapes that emerge from nostalgic recollections and imagined spaces. Focusing on natural textures like gilled mushrooms scaling a tree trunk or the soft ripples of water, Naylor creates what he calls a “parallel universe, a microcosm that is similar to our world but free from the shackles of reality.” The scenes often veer toward the unnatural, favoring otherworldly color palettes and unlikely lighting. “In these spaces, it can be night and day simultaneously,” he says. “You can stare up at the sky whilst noticing the plants flowering at your feet.”
The ethereal qualities of Naylor’s works echo his process, which involves letting the fluid materials dictate the contours of the compositions and allowing the landscapes to “well up from my subconscious and spill onto the surface…The works in ink are made quickly. At the same time, I’m working on larger oil paintings that take much longer. Working at these different tempos keeps things fresh and exciting for me, with the works in ink continually informing the works in oil.”
Based in Bristol, Naylor has a studio at Spike Island and currently teaches at London’s Royal Drawing School. You can find more of his landscapes on Instagram.
“Green Goddess” (2023), ink on paper, 51 x 66 centimeters
“Devil’s Cauldron” (2023), oil on linen, 115 x 105 centimeters
“Mountainside” (2022), ink on paper, 51 x 66 centimeters
“Phosphorescence” (2022), ink on paper, 51 x 66 centimeters
“Catkins and Crocuses” (2023), ink on paper, 51 x 66 centimeters
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Max Naylor’s Ethereal Landscapes in Ink and Oil Paint Defy Nature’s Rules appeared first on Colossal.
“Felicia.” All images © Malisa Suchanya, shared with permission
In vivid pinks, reds, greens, and blues, Oakland-based artist Malisa Suchanya renders the expressive contours of hands immersed in florals and ornamental motifs. Interested in painting the human figure, she started to focus on the appendages specifically during the pandemic, sharing that she “found a deep love and satisfaction in trying to convey emotion and reflect relationships all through the different arrangements, compositions, and entanglement.” She then participated in Var Gallery’s ongoing 30 x 30 x 30 project, which invites artists to make 30 artworks in 30 days every January, spurring creativity at the start of the new year.
“I know very well that it’s projects like these that harbor an amazing environment for growth, and that was exactly what it was for me,” Suchanya says. Required to complete a painting per day, she spent about five hours on each work, plus an hour or two to prepare the next one. “Over the course of the month, I did find that my technique of painting changed quite a bit. It became a bit more time efficient and I was layering my colors with more confidence and ease… and it became close to meditative.”
Suchanya organized three sub-series within the collection, including portraits of hands belonging people who have have deeply impacted her throughout her life, reflections on being with others, and her cultural identity and upbringing in Singapore. Hands blossom from floral arrangements in the portraits series and are titled with individuals’ names, while limbs that twist and float on a black background comprise a set exploring the nuances of relationships. And looking to her Chinese, Indonesian, and Thai heritage, she included examples of colorful, traditional masks framed by hands.
Throughout the year, Suchanya participates in markets and artist fairs around the country, including San Jose Made, which you can find updates about on her website and Instagram. She will also have a solo exhibition at Mom and Pop Art Shop in Point Richmond, California, later this year, and 30 x 30 x 30 continues at Var Gallery in Milwaukee through June 4.
“I bend for you”
Left: “May.” Right: “Red demon mask”
Installation view, image courtesy of Var Gallery
“Black kitsune”
Left: “Thai mask.” Right: “I lean on you”
“Hana”
“We don’t see eye to eye”
“Chinese opera mask”
“Malisa”
“We’re gonna be okie”
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Expressive Hands Capture Portraits of Relationships and Cultural Heritage in Malisa Suchanya’s Acrylic Paintings appeared first on Colossal.
