"LA Bibliotecta: A Los Angeles/Italian Exchange"
February 5, 2021
Event Info
Date/Time:
Exhibition: Oct. 14, 2021 - Feb. 13, 2022
Campus Student Reception: (weekday) Thursday, Oct. 14, 4-6pm
Curators' Q&A: Thursday, Oct. 14, 5pm
Artists’ Reception: (weekend) Saturday, Oct. 16, 4-6pm
Curator/Artists’ Talks: Saturday, Oct. 16, 5pm
Location:
Don B. Huntley Gallery
Gallery Exhibition coming Fall 2021
Gallery Exhibition | "LA Biblioteca"About the Exhibition
LA Biblioteca: Artists' Books from Los Angeles/Italia is an exhibition of thirty-two handmade, or produced, artist's books by eight artists from various parts of Italy, and eight Los Angeles-based artists. In the title, the presence of the Italian word “Biblioteca", translated in English to mean ‘library’, alludes not only to the participation of Italian artists but also to contents related to Italian culture, also present in the works of the American artists. Also, allude to by the title, the ‘LA’ is an article with a double meaning: not only is the article suitable for the term library in Italian meaning ‘the’ in its feminine form, but it is also the acronym of Los Angeles (LA), the county hosting the exhibition.
The books on display, two by each artist, range from a single copy to a graphic book in limited series. The shape of each book varies, from the browsable book to a scroll that is laid out, from the object book to the book composed of several tabular components. Each book is made through the use of various materials. In addition to paper and cardboard media, exhibited books are also fabricated using fabric, wood, assorted materials, and glass. Production techniques range from computerized ones to embroidery, from painting to photography, from collage to animation.
The exhibition is curated by Raffaella Lupi, John David O’Brien, and Stefania Severi who have been dealing with artist books for years. The Italian artists are: Francesca Cataldi, Eleonora Cumer, Vittorio Fava, Koefia High Fashion Academy (sketckbooks by Allievi Diplomati), Luigi Manciocco, Riccardo Pieroni, Lydia Predominato, Maria Grazia Tata. The American artists are: Allison Dalton, Mary Addison Hackett, Nancy Monk, John David O'Brien, Stas Orlovski, Carolie Parker, Steve Roden, Susan Sironi.
The opening reception for on-campus students and faculty will be held Thursday, October 14, 2020 from 4pm until 6pm, with a curator’s talk at 5pm. The artists’ reception will be open to the public and held Saturday, October 16 from 4pm to 6pm with an artists’ talk at 5pm. The exhibition closes on Sunday, February 13, 2022 at 4pm.
About the Curators
Raffaella Lupi
Gallerist, curator, expert in the history of applied arts and restoration. Her experience as a teacher of decorative arts, history of restoration and marketing, and her collaboration with important public institutions and private collections, reveal her passion for different cultures and eras.
In 1988 she founded the Sinopia Gallery, in the heart of Rome, an exhibition space created with the aim of promoting dialogue between the ancient, modern, and contemporary arts. it was an ambitious and expansive project to protect, disseminate and pass on this artistic heritage.
Raffaella Lupi's work pays great attention to the experimentation with materials and to the enhancement of applied arts, giving the Gallery a strong multidisciplinary vocation. In this sense, the meetings with some artists such as Francesca Cataldi, protagonist of fiber arts and its multiple forms, Nino Caruso and all the artists of contemporary ceramic sculpture, Marussia Kalimerova and Lydia Predominato for fiber art leading up to Vito Capone, through whom the in-depth study on artist's books was born that inspired the exhibition 'Contexts - Contexts RM - LA' curated with Stefania Severi and John David O'Brien in the spaces of Galleria Sinopia.
In recent years, her research has focused more on contemporary ceramic sculpture and fiber art, organizing exhibitions in private places (Galleria Sinopia, - Sio2, Spazio delle Cinque Lune - The Lab; Palazzo delle Pietre - Pietra Plasmata) and institutions such as the Museum of the Walls of Rome – TerraeMota; National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome - Contemporary Ceramic Sculpture in Italy; Scuderie Aldobrandini, Fra-scati - BACC; up to last exhibition set up at the Museums of Villa Torlonia - Casina delle Civette, Alchemy of Earth and Light; The Thousand Faces of Guerrino Tramonti's Ceramics (September 2020) dedicated to Master Tramonti and co-curated with Stefania Severi.
Stefania Severi
Roman, art historian, professor of art history in various colleges, she is currently a lecturer at the Alta Moda Koefia Academy in Rome. Art critic, member of the "Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art", she has curated more than 70 exhibitions in public spaces, in Italy and abroad (France, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus), with related catalogs, and has written critical essays on numerous artists. She is responsible for the artistic sector of the Coop. Social Apriti Sesamo ONLUS of Rome. Publicist journalist, she collaborates with various newspapers, including “Voce Romana”, and is editorial secretary of the magazine “Lazio ieri e oggi”. Particularly attentive to the art, history, and customs of Rome and Lazio, she published: “I Teatri di Roma” (Rome 1989, "Donna Città di Roma" Award), “A Century of Rome “(Ten itineraries to discover modern Rome, edited by the Department of Communication and Tourism of the Municipality of Rome, 2000), “Wine in Rome and Lazio” (2006), “Santa Maria in Montesanto, the Church of the Artists of Rome” (2010), “The mosaics in Rome from antiquity to the Middle Ages” (2015). Among the other publications: the novel “Vostra Veronica, life and loves of a courtesan” (Rome, 1996), and the essays “L'Essenza della solitudine, life of Dolore Prato (Rome, 2002, the prize for the essay at the National Prize “Il country of women ") and “Dolores Prato, voice outside the choir” (Ancona, 2007). Her stories, essays, and poems are included in various publications. She wrote the plays: "Noantri, history of Rome in pills", "I Giulia Domna", "The story of Sempronia". She is a member of the Soroptimist International Club Roma Tiber of the Italian Union.
John David O’Brien
John David O’Brien has degrees in studio art an (MFA) from the USC, with an emphasis in 3D work, and (AA.BB.) degree from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Rome in drawing and decorative arts, a (Magistero) degree from the Istituto Statale D’Arte di Urbino, Urbino, Italy for printmaking and was qualified as a Master Printer by the Calcografia Nazionale (National Etching Institute) in Rome, Italy. He was the recipient of a California Community Foundation Artist Fellowship in 2012, a City of Los Angeles Artist Grant in 1998, and a Fulbright Research Grant in 1994. He has had solo and group exhibitions in Los Angeles, Rome, and New York among other locations since 1980.