Impasta Handbags
New paintings by John Avelluto
Curated by Paul D’Agostino
October 14 – November 25 Extended through December 10
Opening Reception, Saturday, October 14, 3-6 PM
Artist Talk- November 11, 3-4 PM
John Avelluto with Joanne Mattera, author of Italianità
Gallery Hours | Extended hours: Saturdays and Sundays 12-5 PM and by appointment
ESSAY by Paul D’Agostino
PRESS- Impasta Handbags received some great press from Art Spiel and Two Coats of Paint
BAY RIDGE, BROOKLYN, NY — Artist John Avelluto is back at Stand4 Gallery for his third solo show, Impasta Handbags, opening October 14th. Avelluto’s work engages his background as an Italian American and native Brooklynite. Through the lens of painting, this engagement examines the tropes, both linguistic and visual, of the artist’s identities. Reflecting on the qualities of the acrylic medium, Avelluto explores the material’s pictorial and sculptural plasticity. Shifts in language occur through displaced imagery, or as certain images rub up against diverse cultural entities and art historical precedents. Avelluto plays with, undermines, and confounds Italian American cultural stereotypes and touchstones, toying with the existing linguistic and visual repertoire of vernacular references that aren’t regularly examined in painting. As curator Paul D’Agostino notes is his exhibition essay, “Impasta Handbags is Avelluto’s thorough, vastly engaging upping of the ante in terms of material mastery, visual trickery, linguistic cleverness, cultural commentary, and layered, embedded punnery.”
John Avelluto currently lives and works in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He received his MFA at CUNY Brooklyn College, where he studied with Elizabeth Murray, Vito Acconci, William T Williams, and Jennifer McCoy. john-avelluto.com
Paul D’Agostino is an artist, writer, curator, translator, and educator, as well as founding director of Centotto, a curatorial project that now operates at large. centotto.com
Joanne Mattera is an artist, writer, and curator. Mattera’s new book project, Italianità, brings together the work and stories of visual artists of Italian American descent. joannemattera.com
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