Andrea Mastrovito
October 15 - December 5, 2009
Press release
Foley Gallery is pleased to announce Andrea Mastrovito’s second solo exhibition at Foley Gallery.
The exhibition Love is a Four Letter Word will coincide with Slash: Paper Under the Knife at the Museum of Arts and Design, which will include the cut paper work of Mastrovito. Foley Gallery will also feature three artists from the Slash exhibition, Tom Gallant, Daniel Alcalá, and Rob Carter, in the project gallery.
In his new series entitled, Love is a Four Letter Word, Mastrovito uses his vibrant collages to examine the nuanced and complex nature of love. For Mastrovito, love is a treacherous cycle that begins with innocence, followed by a violent initiation (represented as death), and then begins again in a sort of beautiful rebirth. The cycle is conveyed via a large frieze, which will wrap around the gallery space, sequenced so that each piece is a connected part of this narrative whole. He articulates the themes of this narrative through an overt symbolism. Innocent figures are shown in white, wielding guns, while the ‘victims’ of love, once shot, become colorful embodiments of love itself, expressed by his use only of the letters L-O-V-E in their construction. These figures drown in a sea of L-O-V-E only to be reborn or rebuilt as new individuals. The white and the colored figures emerge in various incarnations in each separate work, while on the whole, as the frieze evolves, innocence fades and love grows.
The exhibition’s use of “love,” the word, the symbol, involves a deconstruction through repetition, which exposes the quality, meaning, and intricacy of the experience and process of love. Through his images, love becomes more than just a word; it takes on a visceral quality. The word “love” unravels and the letters multiply, first melting into a chaotic sea, and then re-shaping into transformed individuals. In his image of Adam and Eve, it even becomes something you can eat.
Mastrovito lives and works in his hometown of Bergamo, Italy. After attending a local science-focused high school, he received his diploma in the Fine Arts from the Academia Giacomo Carrara. Mastrovito has exhibited his work across Italy and throughout Europe including his most recent solo exhibitions at Analix Forever in Geneva and Art Brussel, the Galleria 1000eventi and Antonio Colombo Contemporary Arts in Milan and the Galleria Comunale of Contemporary Art in Monfalcone, and the Biagiotti Galleria Art Project in Florence. His recent awards include the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs New York Prize in 2007 and an Analix Forever residency in 2005. He was also a finalist in the Valdarno and Tohorror Film Festivals in 2003.
Love is a Four Letter Word will remain on view until December 5, 2009. Foley Gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday 11AM - 6PM. For more information or to request images, please contact the gallery at 212.244.9081 or via email at info@foleygallery.com.