Installation view. Photo: Walter Willems
Opening Reception: November 8, 2013 6 – 9 p.m.
De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
217 Avenue Road, Toronto
I think that the exhibition presently on display at De Luca Fine Art / Gallery is the most interesting art show in the city right now. It is nice to see a strong figurative show among the mainstream of photography based, politically inspired or conceptual, theoretical exhibitions that presently rule the art world. Go figure is featuring three artists from New York City: Chambliss Giobbi, John Grande and Mark Kostabi. As the press preview states, “Go figure sees the sights of the artists as they delve into the human condition through their shared methods of production by appropriation, collage and figurative manipulation. Those sights grasp at each viewer, reflecting their own condition while conveying a meaningful human connection.”
Installation view with Chambliss Giobbi’s work (left) and Marc Kostabi’s painting (back wall). Photo: Walter Willems
Chambliss Giobbi’s fragmented figures are collaged from thousands of photographs he shoots of his models. The newly re-configured figure pictured owes little to the original model; something familiar, but at a distance.
Chambliss Giobbi, Tiny Portrait of Fischer Stevens #6, 2013, collage, bees wax on Masonite, 7 x 5 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery.
Giobbi was the only exhibiting artist who attended the opening.
From left to right: De Luca Fine Art/Gallery Co-director Walter Willems, artist Chambliss Giobbi and De Luca Fine Art/Gallery Director Corrado De Luca. Photo: Alice Tallman
Toronto artist Tony Calzetta in front of Chambliss Giobbi, Head of Joe Barnes 3, 2003. Photo: Alice Tallman
Appropriating the world’s lexicon of visual imagery of business logos, movie posters, art, advertizing, fashion, pop culture, etc, John Grande’s photorealistic pieces manipulate all the imagery into one big symbolic mash up.
Installation view with John Grande’s work. Photo: Walter Willems
John Grande, Invaders, 2011, oil on canvas, 52 x 52 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery.
Visitors with John Grande’s paintings. Photo: Alice Tallman
Marc Kostabi’s paintings are out in the “real” world. Vermeer, Mondrian and De Chirico, and contemporaries like Maurizio Cattelan, are appropriated and combined with Kostabi’s ubiquitous featureless figures, portraying basic and intensive human emotions.
Installation view with Marc Kostabi’s work. Photo: Walter Willems
Marc Kostabi, Lift, 2013, oil on canvas, 51 x 39 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery.
Visitor with Marc Kostabi, Lift, 2013. Photo: Alice Tallman
Visitors with Marc Kostabi’s paintings. Photo: Alice Tallman
The exhibition is presented in association with Robert Curcio of curcioprojects. This is Kostabi’s and Giobbi’s first exhibition in Canada.
Photo: Alice Tallman
The exhibition is outstanding with its artistic quality, a must see!
*Exhibition dates: November 8 – 30, 2013, De Luca Fine Art / Gallery, 217 Avenue Road, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 6 p.m.
Complimenti bellissime mostre con grandi maestri!mi piacerebbe poter collaborare con voi! sono un Architetto curatore!grazie Antonio Lombardo.