Artist Reception: Santo Mirabile – Friday, January 14 from 5-7pm
A very special exhibition! Join artist Santo Mirabile as he unveils a brand-new body of work inspired by his career in art and music. Featuring his unique out of the box approach and modern/contemporary style, these 3D compositions, which he calls ‘relief collages’ are sure to invoke emotion and curiousity.
“The relief-collages are the result of several years of thought and experimentation culminating in arrangements and colors with different materials that become unified. They are a construct I started in conjunction with mobile-making and are a new expressive path for me.” -Santo’s artist statement
Santo received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He works and resides in Denton, MD.
This event is FREE to attend, donations encouraged. Register here. Artwork will be for sale and on display at The Foundry thru January 31, 2022.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Exhibited in this show, January 1st to January
31st, 2022, are two genre of sculpture: reliefcollage
and mobile.*
In the early 20th Century, famous painters such
Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso
experimented with pasting up thin objects on
canvas, they called the technique Collage
Cubism. Critics found it shocking for the day
and age coming from such painters as these to
make ‘tray’ effects that did not create enough
surface depth to be called painting or sculpture.
Although I have been influenced by these
talented giants, my goal in making what I
suggest being called Relief-College, has been to
render something that stands out far from it’s
base with bold textures for this new century.
There is no doubt that this is sculpture because
light plays a role in the compositions creating an
extra dimension of shadow. They are done in
mixed media, and because of air and light, both
my mobiles and collages are influenced by the
places where they hang or stand. All my
sculptures are one of a kind and completely
original.
The relief-collages are the result of several years
of thought and experimentation culminating in
arrangements and colors with different materials
that become unified. They are a construct I
started in conjunction with mobile-making and
are a new expressive path for me. Even though
the collage materials vary, my goal was to look
past how the obvious objects and shapes relate
to one another. When seen as an independent
picture, the dissimilar pieces should relate to the
whole, unifying itself within its frame. Stepping
back away from the sculptures should reveal to
you the truth of that claim.
When I graduated from the Maryland Institute
College of Art, I became a graphic designer. I
hid from the world my first love, fine art
sculpture. After being a staff-artist for
companies such as WJZ-TV-13, WJLA-TV-7,
and art director at WDCA-TV-20, as well as
holding numerous positions as a computer
desktop publisher, I waited until I retired from
those professions before pursuing sculpture.
Also, it is no secret that I have put a substantial
music career behind me as well so that I can
devote my later years to this endeavor.
This body of work comes now that I feel mature
enough to strip away everything that’s
superfluous and in doing so unchain a longawaited
pent up desire for color, composition,
and form like no other work I have ever
imagined. My mobiles and relief-collages have
all been created to last as well. The collages
have been spray-lacquered to preserve their
paper and fabric elements. The mobiles are
made from sheet aluminum, galvanized steel
wire, and painted with exterior latex for indooronly
durability.
Although some of my mobiles are playful
looking, they are not toys and are for display
only. That said, two of the positive effects of
living with fine art in the home is that, after
decades of visual enjoyment, it becomes agevaluable
and a desirable investment. It is with
that suggestion that I hope you will see in my
sculpture the wisdom of something historic in
elegance, reminding us of the past as well as
something new that creates a positive vision for
the future.
Thank you,
Santo Mirabile
* Because ceilings in many places are not high
enough to exhibit mobiles that hang, I have
made supporting structures to suspend the
moving parts of those that stand and it is those
standing mobiles alone which I am exhibiting in
this show. I hope you will also visit Gallery 50
in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware where several of
my hanging mobiles are always on display.