By Irene Vaisnoras
The Italian men's national “football” team may not have qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but the current exhibition of Italo-Canadian women artists is an unqualified success – a worthy redemption of pride in the sphere (pun intended) of Italian culture of the Canadian variety.
The opening reception of Viva Vitalita' Italia at the Joseph D. Carrier Gallery (at the Columbus Centre, Toronto) on June 5th highlighted excellence not only in the visual arts, but also in other aspects of culture: food (pasta, pizza, arrancini, salad) and wine; music (vocal and instrumental, including accordion and violin). This abundance of pleasure for the senses was courtesy of the many sponsors who contributed to this annual event for the launch of Italian Heritage Month (June) in Ontario. The event was organized by long-time cultural supporter Marcello Tarantino, resulting in an atmosphere that was lively, warm and convivial. In my experience, this was a typical Italian celebration.
The art exhibition is displayed on the second and third floors of the rotunda of the gallery. The nine artists whose paintings, photographs and sculptures honour the “creativita' femminile della nostra communita'” [Panorama (Canada), maggio/giugno, 2018, p.18] are: Frances Tibollo, Marina Randazzo, Frances Patella, Julia Campagna, Lucilla Bonfanti, Giovanna Carnevale, Mara Schiavetto, Anita Giancola, and Sandra Tarantino.
The photographs of Frances Tibollo document the various faces and facets of south-east Asia. One is of Nepali grandfathers at their social club (2017). Another is titled Welcome to Varanasi.
Of particular interest to me was the photograph Rise Up (2017) depicting the backs of women wearing saris walking up stone stairs while on the right-hand side of the picture a barefoot man walks down the stairs. This image appealed to me because a young woman, a family friend, has recently spent eight months in Delhi working on a project for an international foundation. This is a scene, whether literal or symbolic, she may very well have observed.
A painting by Marina Randazzo was chosen for the postcards promoting Italian Heritage Month showing a family group with Italian and Canadian symbols, architecture and landscape. In the exhibition itself, her paintings display a technique of heavily-applied paint. The images include portraits and industrial scenes. Andre (2018) and Haul (2017, both acrylic on canvas) appear to portray the same person, a man in a suit in a setting which could be an office, who did not appear very sympathetic. Her industrial-scapes include Pier (2017), Plume (2016), Works (2016) and Silve II (2015) where the impasto technique is very well-suited to busy, even turbulent, scenes.
Mixed media works (2016 to 2018) by Frances Patella show the municipal practice of controlled burns in High Park, Toronto. I was struck by these images as this spring I happened to see this taking place in the Park. At first, I was somewhat taken aback, then I realized that this is likely necessary to maintain the health of that environment. The mixed media used are photographs and areas of colour in a montage, some on a wood support, others are on canvas. The sizes range from smaller formats to quite large (6' x 8').
In the medium of sculpture the small bronzes by Julia Campagna are provocative. She distorts the dimensions of human figures and features to sometimes disturbing effect. Inkling depicts a figure whose large-sized head has a face partially covered with printed pages perhaps from a book of fiction, and whose legs are splayed/spread out. A number of her figures: Prayer, Fun House, and Walking On, have disproportionately large hands which are out-stretched or beseeching or pointing.
The name Bonfanti may be familiar to those of us who regularly go to the annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition [now “Fair”], where we have been delighted by the fun creatures which are the work of Ross (Rosario) Bonfanti. He is, indeed, the son of Lucilla Bonfanti.
Lucilla Bonfanti in her artist's statement eloquently describes her less-than-happy journey from Sicily to Toronto at the age of 14 when her parents decided to emigrate. Her longing for her home town in Sicily and her resentment of her parents' decision to uproot her are the feelings which are “the motivating factors” in her present body of work.
A number of her mixed media, altered photographs use the same family studio portrait in which only two people are smiling, a younger man and woman. The other six, two older women and four children, are more serious. In Longing (2011), On Her Shoulders (2011) and Family Deconstruction (2007), the original studio portrait is manipulated (or, perhaps, “mutilated”) in various ways including folding, sewing, cutting, and interwoven with other images. The effect is one of a fractured group of adults and children, seemingly isolated from each other; or, in any case, not interacting in a united or happy manner.
The large poster for the show has an image for each of the artists. The one chosen for Giovanna Carnevale is Prickly Pears (oil on canvas). It is a particularly striking painting among her other still lifes, such as Pears, and Still Life in Studio. The images are quiet, the colours/tones somewhat muted. In her Self-portrait, Carnevale appears thoughtful.
Mara Schiavetto's large non-objective landscapes, Ciao, and Options (both acrylic on canvas) are areas of bold colour with stencilled words and numbers that emerge from the surface. Her abstracted, but more recognizable landscape, The Good Earth is rendered in oil on canvas.
The non-objective paintings by Anita Giancola feature hard-edged, geometric areas of colours, often in stripes that intersect. Fun Dip (acrylic on canvas, 2017) is indeed fun, playful and humourous.
The artist Sandra Tarantino is the daughter of Marcello Tarantino, the show's organizer. She is an educator as well as a visual artist. Here she has works in two distinct media.
Her multi-piece ceramic sculpture, Catharsis (earthenware, underglaze, glaze), is mounted on a wall and occupies about four to eight feet of space. It consists of a central mask-like face with birds surrounding the head and emerging from the mouth. In addition, many birds, some in flight, some looking straight at the viewer, are arranged around the central face. This is an integrated piece, all the elements working together. In that way it differs significantly from, even though I was reminded of, a work by An Whitlock of crows on a huge expanse of wall which was shown at Christopher Cutts Gallery (Toronto) many years ago.
Sandra Tarantino's other works are “shaped” canvases which are curved at the vertical sides and extend about six inches from the wall. These are recognizable landscapes, beach scenes, with large splotches of thick, vibrant paint which obscure parts of the image: Adrift No.19, and Adrift No.28 (both 2015, acrylic on canvas).
Well-deserved “Auguri” and “Congratulations” go out to the artists and the co-curator, Flavio Belli. It is truly a community effort, of high calibre given all the sponsors and organizational expertise that went into this exhibition and opening reception. The art is wide-ranging in styles, subject matter and media. To me, while I did have some favourite pieces, there was something admirable about the works of each artist and the show is a success in its entirety. It can be enjoyed until the end of August. The Gallery is located at 901 Lawrence Ave. West, Toronto, inside the Columbus Centre.
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| Image © Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery, inside the Columbus Event Centre. |
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