September 30th – December 10th 2016
Ass. Cult. Doppelgaenger
Palazzo Verrone
Via Verrone 8
Bari, Italy

On September 30th, at 6 p.m., Doppelgaenger gallery opens Solitario, first personal exhibition in Italy for the artist Domingo Milella. “[…] the matter of my work is time, memory and forgetfulness, illiteracy, beauty and violence. The irony and the brutality of Time”. Solitario tells about Domingo Milella’s investigation, as a traveller in time and space, on the dialogue between man and nature. Milella’s photographs, incessant proof of the stratification of the interventions that our culture imposes on the surface of Earth, depict dazing and sudden gashes on the real human existence, which appears - as a paradox in its manifestations of extreme artificiality - as a huge,
continuous natural phenomenon. The artist exposes in the exhibition a prism developed on a wide surface, in 190 works, a visual map of the last ten years of his work.

Biography
Domingo Milella was born In 1981 in Bari , where he lived till he was 18. After moving to New York he has studied photography at the School of Visual Arts, under Stephen Shore. Thomas Struth had been his mentor, who widely influenced his work. Currently he lives in Bari and London. Due to his work, he reached places such as Mexico City, Ankara, Anatolia, Sicily, Tunisia, Mesopotamia and Turkey. His works had been exposed at Brancolini grimaldi gallery (London), Tracy Williams gallery (New York), FOAM (Amsterdam), at the 54th Venice Biennale and at the Photography Rencontres in Arles. In 2016 his works has been exposed at the Margulies Collection in Miami, and at Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul.

More info:
www.doppelgaenger.it

18 to 21 April 2015
Vicenza Faigrounds
Via dell'Oreficeria 16 - 36100 Vicenza (North East of Italy)
Halls 1, 2 and 7
Main Entrance West (OVEST)

Among the great variety of devotional images handed down by history and tradition, printed images of saints still enjoy wide circulation today: bought by the pious and pilgrims in religious goods stores or in stores near churches or sanctuaries, they constitute a significant part of the more general devotional sector on display at Koinè.
The representation of saints in devotional images, nevertheless, has remained bound to iconographical models no longer in vogue (above all, from the 1800’s), despite the renewing winds of the Second Vatican Council that swept the Church in her artistic expression as well. In 2015, therefore, to celebrate the jubilee of the conclusion of the Council and the promulgation of the Pastoral Constitution “Gaudium et Spes” on the Church in the modern world, Koine will carry out an exhibit dedicated to the Catholic Church’s image of the saints on devotional holy cards which will be interpreted through the perception and graphic language of contemporary artists. Selected Saints: Saint Anne, Saint Anthony of Padua, Saint Francis Of Assisi, Saint James the Greater, Saint Joseph, Saint Lucy, Saint Mary Magdalene, Saint Michael the Archangel, Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint Rita of Cascia. Historical holy cards courtesy of: Natale Salvardi di Sisera Loris. Selected Artists: Federica Bordoni, Calusca (Luca Scandura), Gianni Cestari, Marina Fusari , Ivo Mosele, Barbara Ortelli Pin, Arianna Piazza, Vincenzo Piazza, Sonia Maria Luce Possentini, Nadia Ruju, Silvia Zaccaria, Giovanni Zoda. Prototypes printed by: Cromo NB Srl, Egim Srl, Eurotrading Snc, Fars Srl, Officina d’Arte Torre Snc, P&L Snc.

More information:
info@koinexpo.com
www.koinexpo.com

The man who wants to save the world.
From a true story, a journey into the drama of being a Man, the courage to spread the life.

Bios Vincent, artist and performer, returns in the contemporary Italian and international art Scenery with a new and complex artistic and cinematographic project entitled “Pinoccolo towards the Pole” that on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 present to the public through the International crowdfunding website www.indiegogo.com to receive Support and funding to his ambitious project. The campaign closed on January 31st, 2015.
The project is promoted by the Cultural Association "Vertical Line" in Milan in collaboration with other third sector cultural associations various associations including animatedly Animatamente and ASC artesacracontemporanea). Collaborators of the project team are Gabriella Ferlazzo Natoli doctor within MSF Medicins Sance Frontieres, Giacomo Sferlazzo songwriter and President of the Cultural Association Askavusa, Toni d’Andrea architect, Christian di Domenico actor and Nicola Genna graphic designer, Giorgio Maria Tromba digital compositor, Francesca Ferlazzo Natoli architect, Gianluca Brandis architect and Jean Civiletti archaeologist. The Pinoccolo towards the Pole Campaign is in partnership with #GivingTuesday.

The character of Pinoccolo comes from a true story, the personal experience of the artist in a difficult time of his lives. Wearing the mask of Pinoccolo and lying to offer hope, he was able to save his world. Since then for Bios Vincent, Pinoccolo (Pinocchio) represents the last bastion of salvation and becomes, as an alter ego, the protagonist of all his performances.

Camerardente. Against “every” Death Penalty
Through the language of art, Bios Vincent, sensitive to issues of violence in all its forms and acts of injustice that become real "death sentences" of the human being, gives life with the project Camerardente. Against <every> death penalty to a real contemporary via crucis through the symbolic places of suffering. The mask of Pinocchio offers reflection insights on the issues that the artist proposes and the need to safeguard the human being and the planet, laying bare the negligence and the culprits human breach who generated disasters, and still continue. Highlighting the disastrous consequences of these acts, the hope is that, eventually, the community will understand the cruelty and act to protect the integrity of the human soul.  
At each stage there was designated a coffin with a shot crucifix inside. The coffins were brought on the shoulders, deposited in the desired place of memory and offered to the public who became an actor and interacted leaving their thoughts written on the outside of the coffin.
The journey began March 15th, 2013 and reached twelve places of memory: Turin, Milan, Vajont, Bologna, Naples, Lampedusa, Palermo, Taranto, Lecce, L'Aquila, Assisi, Rome, Vatican. The stage in Vatican was not realized because hampered by the authorities.

Now Bios Vincent has a dream, to bring his hope and salvation message beyond the Italian boundaries through the realization of the international stages of the project Camerardente. Against <every> death penalty represented by the memorial sites, places who must not be forget, because the memory of violence becomes hope (Santiago di Compostela, Canada, Messico, New York, Florida, Giappone, Irlanda del Nord, Sarajevo, Congo, Gabon, Polonia, Berlino). The last stage stop will be the South Pole because the South Pole is a "pure and pristine place" and it is “a place to be safeguarded”.

Pinoccolo towards the Pole
Pinoccolo towards the Pole is the today’s completion of Camerardente. Against <every> death penalty. It is a real cinematographic project, a docufilm that, by using the trace by Collodi, will try to lead the human soul and mind through a journey of purification using indelible marks that have marked our existence, the "death penalty" imposed unjustly on ours or our neighbor’s body or soul.
Bios thinks it's important to stop, stop owns existence and talk, share and celebrate what has been, not to forget the tragedies of the past and to find the strength to continue, enabling us to recognize the violence that surrounds us and to prevent with courage the future acts of that violence, to protect our world and what's more precious, the gift of life, our children, a seed of hope.
The project Pinoccolo towards Pole is a condemnation of the violence made by humanity against humanity, it is a hymn to life. It will be dedicated to the project a publication that will contain also all the thoughts engraved on the coffins. It is a book for children: in fact, the task of turning the strong meaning of Camerardente. Against <every> death penalty in a message of universal love for the future, will be given to them.

INVITATION TO DONATE
To realize the artistic performances cycle in the new international stages of Camerardente. Against <every> death penalty, and to support the pre-production, production and post-production costs of the docufilm Pinoccolo towards the Pole, which amount in total to €600,000, the association "Vertical Line" asks a contribution to all, to all those who feel involved with the issues discussed, and that as godparents want to shout to the world that there is hope of salvation, that there is future for our children, a better world.

With your contribution Bios Vincent will make his journey and will spread wherever his hope message, becoming witness of the sufferings perpetrated in every corner of the earth, and shaking the conscience of all those who together can ending them.

For every generous donation thank you with a special gift.
Donate Now! We would be extremely grateful: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pinoccolo-towards-the-pole-pinoccolo-verso-il-polo/x/9247336

INFORMATION
Title: Pinoccolo verso il Polo (Pinoccolo towards the Pole)
Date: From Tuesday, December 2, 2014
To learn more and donate: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pinoccolo-towards-the-pole-pinoccolo-verso-il-polo/x/9247336
www.biosvincent.eu
Trailer: http://youtu.be/FBdm9vYqk3M 

[ guarda il video ]

11 October 2013–19 January 2014
Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi – Palazzo Strozzi
Piazza Strozzi 
Florence, Italy

Opening: Thursday 10 October 2013 at 19.00

Artists: Kader Attia, Zanny Begg & Oliver Ressler, Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin, Paolo Cirio, Tadashi Kawamata, Sigalit Landau, Richard Mosse, Paulo Nazareth, Jo Ractliffe, The Cool Couple.

Unstable Territory. Borders and identity in contemporary art, curated by Walter Guadagnini and Franziska Nori, showcases work by international artists which will encourage visitors to reconsider the notion of territory in a contemporary world. Whilst the latter is increasingly characterised by the obsolescence of such concepts as the nation state and borders, there is, at the same time, a return to new forms of nationalism and renewed interest in the individual in relation to a specific area or community. The astonishing development of mobility for both people and goods, the digitisation of communication and knowledge, migration and an increasingly global economy have all radically changed people’s perception of territories, borders and boundaries. In view of the instability of these concepts crucial to the definition of personal identity, two different –though not necessarily conflicting – trends appear to be taking shape: one based on seeking shelter in the safety and proximity of the micro-territory, the region or even the family; the other, as theorised by sociologist Ulrich Beck, involving a new conception of cosmopolitanism in its most democratic and egalitarian sense. What does it mean when we talk about “territory” today? The term does not simply refer to a geographical or spatial area, it also refers to a concept of social and cultural belonging and extends into the personal, psychological and mental sphere. The works in this exhibition reflect different approaches, lifestyles and ways of perceiving the unstable relationship between identity, territory and borders in an age of great expectations (and illusions) regarding a borderless society, a shared global territory. Photographs, videos and installations spark reflections on the notion of the border as discovery or barrier, on the hybridisation between cosmopolitism and territorial claims, on the figure of the artist himself as traveller, nomad or experimenter teetering on the edge of physical and symbolic territories. The exhibition catalogue (Italian/English) is published by Mandragora and features critical essays by the curators Walter Guadagnini (independent curator) and Franziska Nori (CCCS Director) together with texts by Ulrich Beck (Munich University and London School of Economics) and Francesco Careri (Università di Roma).

Information: Tel +39 055 2645155 / news@strozzina.org
http://www.strozzina.org

September 28th – November 30th, 2013
Galleria Claudio Poleschi Arte Contemporanea
Via Santa Giustina 21 - Lucca, Italia
Chiesa di San Matteo
Piazza San Matteo 3, Lucca, Italia

Opening Saturday September 28th 6.30pm

The wide selection of works - set up in the suggestive San Matteo church and in the gallery’s spaces - comprehends some of them from the new series Madonna with Child and Byzantine, beyond other works of great dimensions and characterized by the accurate fusion of materials, the same that distinguishes the poem Sailing to Byzantium (1928) by William Butler Yeats, from which the exhibition’s title derives: “That is no country for old men. The young / In one another’s arms, birds in the trees / – Those dying generations – at their song, / The salmon‐falls, the mackerel crowded seas, / Fish, flesh, or fowl, commend all summer long / Whatever is begotten, born, and dies. / Caught in that sensual music all neglect / Monuments of unageing intellect.” In these paintings the mixed media pushed to their limits configure a strategy oriented to blur the boards between reality and fiction, through the stratification of techniques – photography, painting, digital intervention, assemblage – and of objects: porcelain, buttons, dresses, jewelry. The accumulation confers to these artworks a peculiar and steep trait of decadence, obsession; the artist becomes the object and the subject of this transformation – a material among the materials -, playing the roles of the different characters within the narrative and constantly changing her features. The overload lets the works protrude always, with bravery and audacity, their identity towards the kingdom of kitsch, gaining the creation of perturbing worlds that challenge the viewer: duplication, reproduction, mirroring are the main functions of this process. The resin freezes all the elements and relationships, draining on figures landscapes objects as a wrap: the artificial balance of the levels has definitively crystallized in time and space.

Nina Surel was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lives and works in Miami since 2001. She studied at the Architecture & Urban Planning University of Buenos Aires and The Art Institute of El Teatro Colón, also in B.A, Argentina. Her work has been exhibited widely in institutions, galleries and art fairs both in the United States and South America, including the Naples Museum of Art, The Art & Culture Center of Hollywood, as well as Art Fairs in Buenos Aires, Chicago, New York, Miami, and London. She has been reviewed in national and international publications, and is an Artist-in-Residence at ArtCenter South Florida.

More informatio:
Ph: +39 0583 469490
www.claudiopoleschi.com
info@claudiopoleschi.com

29 March−28 July 2013
Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina -
Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Palazzo Strozzi
Piazza Strozzi
Florence, Italy

Opening: Thursday 28 March 2013

An Idea of Beauty, on view at the Centre for Contemporary Culture Strozzina (CCCS) at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, sets out to explore the work of eight contemporary international artists – Vanessa Beecroft, Chiara Camoni, Andreas Gefeller, Alicja Kwade, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Isabel Rocamora, Anri Sala and Wilhelm Sasnal – and will encourage visitors to reconsider the concept of beauty and to question not only the ‘need’ for it but also its function, value and purpose. Today’s world is heir to an historical and philosophical process that has separated art from beauty, in the sense of a world vision incapable of expressing the complexity and inconsistency of the modern era. At the same time, the term ‘beauty’ in daily use has become more trivialised and debased, and is often used as a synonym for appreciation (like/don’t like) or as the mark of a hedonistic and superficial approach typical of today’s trend towards extreme aestheticisation. In order to rediscover an idea of beauty, we need to adopt a different approach to our sense of reality, to our search for a value, a spiritual moment or to explore an intellectual intuition in greater depth. Thus beauty arises anew from our ability to look at it differently, to grasp and recognise it even in a mundane object, moment or gesture. Visitors to the exhibition will be confronted with works of art soliciting their physical and emotional participation. Through their work the artists seek to highlight the subjectivity with which a person views art, triggering individual responses that can become a tool for forging new connections with other people and with the world at large. On the one hand, they address and revisit such traditional artistic techniques and genres as the themes of landscape and the human figure while, on the other, it is almost as though they are attempting to listen to nature, capturing its moments and its fragments, or reflecting on the power of beauty in its social dimension or in the power to transform that it exercises on each and every one of us. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published in Italian and English by Mandragora.With the support of: Comune di Firenze, Provincia di Firenze, Camera di Commercio di Firenze, Associazione Partners Palazzo Strozzi – Regione Toscana – Unicoop Firenze, Ataf. With the patronage of the Polish Institute in Rome.

Information:
T. 055 2645155
news@strozzina.org
www.strozzina.org

The attempt to sell a Banksy mural taken from a London street at a Miami auction house - until it was withdrawn this week - shows that graffiti is no longer viewed simply as an urban blight. But it's still not often that graffiti artists are let loose in a church. 

Spanish graffiti artist Raul Sanchez Araque, also known as House, has a varied portfolio of work under his belt - including spray-painting the outside of a sex shop and countless works of old-school guerrilla graffiti. But it was a surprise when he was contacted by a priest at the Santa Eulalia church in l'Hospitalet, near Barcelona. Could he, House, and fellow "graffitero" Rudi, paint a neo-Romanesque church? Specifically, the ceiling of the dome above the main altar?
As in many Catalan churches, the decoration is austere. The walls are painted nondescript colours, the statues of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the saints are simple. To compensate, Father Ramon Borr decided to make the main dome a little different. "Even though the press is scandalised by graffiti artists, for me graffiti is just another artistic technique," he says. There were practical considerations behind his choice too - quote after quote from traditional artists had come in well over budget. He was a little tentative to start with. "I said we need to have sober colouring," begins Father Borr. "But they said, 'Look, let us try with brights and if you don't like it, we'll take it off.'" It took his two graffiti artists 10 days and one frantic all-nighter, as they rushed to finish it for a wedding.
The result is a spectacular splash of colour - rich blues, bright reds and greens, on the dome of the church. But don't think street art. In fact, the style of the painting is faithfully Romanesque, with static, two-dimensional renderings of Saint Eulalia, the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, and the congregation.
"I told them they couldn't start until they visited a museum in Barcelona to study the Romanesque style I was interested in," Father Borr says. "So they went, and studied, even took out some books." Only then did the spray cans come out. House, 34, works full-time as an artist, doing a mix of commissioned works, for which he is paid, and what he calls his "personal graffiti", splashed on walls across Alicante where he lives. For the latter, he has been arrested numerous times. When Father Borr hired him he was surprised, and thrilled, and nervous.
"Only a graffiti artist can tell we used aerosol cans to do the work," House says. "We tried to conceal that. In the Roman period, spray paint obviously didn't exist." Not that House completely conformed, with the Father's wishes. If you look carefully at the figures in the congregation, you see an elderly woman passing a thimble to a young boy. That woman was House's grandmother, a keen seamstress, who, he says, was miraculously cured of a fatal spinal disease in the 1950s. House says he is not religious in the traditional sense, but he doesn't think that matters.
"Even if you don't believe in God, you can believe in the good will of people." Father Borr says he's happy the artists personalised the work. And he's considering getting House, Rudi and their spray paints back to decorate more of his church, some of which dates from the Middle Ages, and some from 1957. Anything to bring more people in. "As Pope Benedict XVI has said, art should attract the faithful." In a bar just around the corner a group of non-church-going men are enjoying beers after work. They've never seen the dome, but are impressed by photos. Then a man at the far end of the bar speaks up. "I've seen it," he says. "I saw it in the newspaper, and went to check it out. It's beautiful." "You guys ought to set your drinks down for once and go on over," he yells to the others. "It wouldn't hurt you to spend a little time in the house of God."

Gerry Hadden is Europe correspondent for The World - a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21529832

February 8, 2013 - July 8, 2013
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th Street
New York, NY USA

The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is China’s largest province. It came under Chinese rule in 1949. With few exceptions, artists and foreign researchers have been denied meaningful access to the rural areas in Xinjiang. Ross's close working relationships with a Uyghur anthropologist and a French historian focusing on Central Asian Islam have guided her more than eight-year exploration in the region. The extensive body of work from which this exhibition draws is rare in that it captures a time and place that is rapidly modernizing and transforming, as Xinjiang is now China’s largest source of untapped natural gas, oil, and minerals. Ross’s work broadens our understanding of an understudied region at one of the world’s greatest cultural crossroads. At the same time, the conceptual and aesthetic dimensions of Ross’s photographs speak to the visual beauty, visceral ardency, and sacred gravity of these sites. The depth of Ross’s work will be enhanced by a book, Living Shrines of Uyghur China, to be released by Monacelli Press at the time the exhibition opens.
Curated by Beth Citron. This exhibition is supported, in part, by Peter Hutchings and Martha Wolfgang.

More info:
info@rmanyc.org
www.rmanyc.org

22 January - 20 February 2013
ARTSPACE GALLERY
PO Box: 506759, The Gate Village Bldg. 3
Level 2, Dubai International Financial Center
Dubai, U.A.E.

ARTSPACE Dubai is pleased to announce that it will be showcasing a solo show of works by prominent Syrian master calligrapher Mouneer Al Shaarani, featuring pieces from his latest collection. The sponsor of the exhibition is the prestigious Banque Vontobel, Private Banking winner of the Best Boutique Private Bank 2011.

Mouneer Al- Shaarani is a renowned calligrapher, designer and writer, living and working in Cairo, Egypt. Born in Syria, he graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus ( 1977). He studied under the great Syrian calligrapher, Badawi Al Dirany. His work has been exhibited internationally in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Switzerland, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia, India, England and the USA. He is highly regarded across the globe for introducing uniquely innovative calligraphic styles and for taking his inspiration from everything that surrounds him, old and new.

More info:
info@artspace-dubai.com
www.artspace-dubai.com

FEBRUARY 15–MAY 26, 2013
Museum of Biblical Art
1865 Broadway at 61st Street
New York, NY USA

The exhibition examines the complex place of the Bible in the life and art of African Americans, with particular emphasis on how biblical traditions were used by artists of African descent to help cope with the life that was imposed on them in the Americas. Although the majority of the works included in the exhibition date from the 19th and 20th centuries, they often reflect the experiences of the Middle Passage and slavery, which left their indelible mark on the artistic consciousness of the African American community. Ashé to Amen: African Americans and Biblical Imagery is supported, in part, by awards from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

More info:
http://mobia.org
info@mobia.org

The ASC Contemporary Sacred Art editorial staff wish to everybody happy holidays, peace and joy.

Joyeux Noël et bonne année.
Feliz Navidad y próspero año nuevo,
Serene festività e auguri di felicità e pace

Sabrina Palmieri
ASC Editorial Office 

Thursday, November 29, 2012 at 6:00 PM
First Things Editorial Offices
35 East 21st Street, Sixth Floor
(between Broadway and Park)
(212) 627-1985

Wayne Adams is a Brooklyn-based painter. He received his BFA from Calvin College and earned his MFA from Washington University in 2000. Adams' work has been exhibited throughout the Midwest, New York, and Europe. He has written articles for various publications including Image: A Journal of the Arts and Religion, Comment Magazine, and The Curator and has taught at various New York City institutions including Parsons The New School for Design, Nyack College, and The International Center of Photography. Adams currently serves on the Board of Directors for Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA).

More info:
www.firstthings.com