new beginnings - amazon web services · memories bring forth powerful emotions, able to colour or...

C A R M E L O B L A N D I N O N E W B E G I N N I N G S

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N E W B E G I N N I N G S

TEXT BY KRISTINA LINDEMANN

COVER PAGE: FEU, 2014, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 102 X 102 CM

Memories bring forth powerful emotions, able to colour or even distort our present experience. Carmelo Blandino’s flowers are like coy dancing subjects, which seek to depict such meeting of memory and experience. As they each release some of the weight of memory and give way to the lightness of the here and now, they pave a ground for new beginnings.

This new series of works is clearly marked with the artist’s curiosity and will to challenge himself. His flowers become metaphors for the artist’s ongoing effort to form a habit of breaking with old grounds, starting over fresh and gradually cultivating a new artistic persona. The brushstrokes, splotches and errors of this endeavor all form into one organic, intuitive and delightful movement, letting us travel on our own inner sea of memory to new lands.

Rooted in time and context, each of his series of paintings is one coherent being which, individual, authentic and refreshing in its meaning, knows how to stand out in comparison to its sister series. As each series explores its own character to the fullest, its manifold moods foster a playful ground for dialogue between artist and viewer.

Riot and contemplation, depth and dynamic – seeming oppositions shake hands, reaching past superficial compliment or make-believe, which flowers often are mistaken for. With meditative honesty and soul these works show an uncompromising take on Life itself: What matters is how we deal with memory and experience, how we form new beyond old, again and again. We are here in Life to go “all in”, to surrender to it and to share it completely.

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CARMELO BLANDINO

EDUCATION

1983-1984 Vanier College: Creative Arts

1985-1988 Dawson College: Illustration and Design

2000-2001 Workshop: Saidie Bronfman Center:

Drawing and painting

RECENT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2014 “New Beginnings”, Couture Galleri,

Stockholm Sweden

“ Suspended Dialogues” Thomas Riley

Studio , Naples Florida

“Rebirth” Greenwich Gallery Connecticut

Baker Museum, Florida Contemporary,

“Creativity is Natural”, Von Leibig,

Naples Art Association

2013 Rebirth, Sono Gallery Norwalk Connecticut

Art Basel Miami, Wynwood Walls

Gallery Sono, Connecticut

JLD Design Showroom, Café Des Artistes

Hall-Barnett Gallery, New Orleans

2012 Art Basel Miami/ Wynwood walls

The flowering of consciousness, Galeire de

Bellefeuille, Montreal

2010 “The Earth Laughs In Flowers”,

Couture Gallery, Stockholm

“The Earth Laughs In Flowers”,

Galerie De Bellefeuille, Montreal

2008 Memoria, Galerie De Bellefeuille, Montreal

Sanctus- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver

2007 Vivo- Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto

Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver


2006 Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver


2005 Galerie de Bellefeuille - Landscapes

and Florals

RECENT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 Arcadia Fine Arts, Four Seasons hotel,

New York

En Masse, Galerie Pangee

2011 En Masse, Primary flight, Wynwood walls,

Art Basel Miami

Fountain Art Fair, Miami Art Basel

Toronto International Art Fair

2010 29th Founders Show, Von Leibeig Center,

Naples Florida

Art 2010, Galerie De Bellefeuille

2009 Art 2009, Galerie De Bellefeuille

Breathe, Judith Liegeois showroom

Nature 2009, Galerie De Bellefeuille

Wallace Gallery, Fall Show

Third on Canvas, The Von Liebig Center,

Naples

Naples Museum of Art, Have a Seat II


Art show, Judith Liegeois showroom

Naples Museum Studio Tour

Palm Beach Art Fair

Faculty Biennial, Von Liebig Art Center

Chicago Art Fair




Palm Beach Art Fair, Galerie De Bellefeuille

Small works- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver

2006 Small works- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver

2005 Figura - Galerie De Bellefeuille

Galerie De Bellefeuille

Galerie De Bellefeuille

Art Chicago - Chaicago Art Fair

Art For Life - Casey House Foundation


2004 The Painted Gift - Hubert Gallery,

New York

Small Works - Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto

Small Works - Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver

Art For Life - Casey House Foundation

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto


Circa 700 - Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto

2003 Pausa - Bau-IX Gallery in Toronto

Galerie De Bellefeuille. Montreal

2002 Galerie Simon Blais, Montreal

Bau-IX Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal

New Canadian Painting Royal Bank of

Canada, Place Ville-Marie, Montreal

New Canadian Painting Competition, Royal

Bank of Canada Exhibit, Ottawa

Viva Italia, Holt Renfrew, Montreal

“One evening, last September, I found myself standing in a makeshift studio I had setup in my parents’ home in Montreal. In this familiar and yet strangely foreign setting, the simple act of opening a tube of oil colors suddenly became a daunting task. Every color seemed embedded with a secret code that triggered memories and emotions––some happy, some sad––related to my past and future. The onslaught of memories was beyond my control: certain smells, touches, ideas, concepts, time sequences and even entire conversations would return to me unbidden as I set to work painting. In short, I could not escape the ways in which my mind had been hard wired, I could not paint.

The only way to get beyond the omnipotence of this ingrained programming, beyond the delusional loop of activity that only looked like true creation, I had to some-how discover my truth. To be free, to be true, I knew I had to find a way to rely on my present moments, a place where neither my past nor my future held any sway. Like taking a cleaning cloth to my emotions, I used every stroke of paint I laid down to wipe away my past. I wiped away my history as an art teacher, wiped away

my lectures related to art, my color theory techniques, my critique––and on and on, even wiping away conver-sations, situations, emotions. Whatever arose from my memory, I would greet with a smile and gratefully re-lease. In this way, with each painting, more memories were removed.

I experimented using parts of my body against the engrained habit: I started to paint with my left hand, I walked with my left foot forward instead of my right, drank from my left, took different routes when I walked or drove. The energetic resonance of my body began to change: weight was released and muscle tone restored. Silently I observed and witnessed this transformation. I was new, living from moment to moment and a truer person entered my body. Intuition and instinct are now my navigators. I make choices only at the exact moment they need to be made. I have found that living this way brings a wealth of peace.

I have released the weight of the past and stand still in my present, my truth. And this is the place from which I paint: I call it zero.”

ARTIST STATEMENT

ON VIEW MAY 22 - JUNE 19, 2014OPENING RECEPTION WITH THE ARTIST

MAY 22, 18:00 TO 20:00

BIRGER JARLSGATAN 26, 114 34 STOCKHOLM • TELEPHONE: +46 (0) 734 267 018

WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY 12 TO 18. SATURDAY – SUNDAY 12 TO 16.

ARTWORK © CARMELO BLANDINO • TEXT © KRISTINA LINDEMANN

WWW.COUTUREGALLERI.SE

CARMELO BLANDINONEW BEGINNINGS

new beginnings - amazon web services · memories bring forth powerful emotions, able to colour or...

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