Paintings by Christian Balzano
ON VIEW: By appt. (Mon-Fri:10am-12/2pm-4pm), Reservations at iicwashington@esteri.it
EXHIBITION OPENING:
May 10, 2012, 7:00 PM
A visual meditation on time and space, existence and transformation, carried out through the magnificent and frail brightness of gold leaf and sinuous drawing – accompanied, on the occasion of the opening by the music of jazz flutist Charles Rahmat Woods and bass player Marc Blackwood.
ON VIEW: MAY 10 – MAY 30, 2012
“Balzano is looking for an allusive revelation of reality, intended as an existential imperative, allowing the user to choose and thus making him feel like the creator of his own destiny. Not a simple cognitive process, but a way to move closer to that hypothetical mosaic of probable worlds through the symbiosis between thought and action, mind and spirit, interaction of the senses and vital illusion, in order to be able to control the passing of time. The intention is to explore extensively those areas of existence which have not yet been completely violated; new means of investigation are used to discover in oneself a new way of perceiving the tangible where past, present and future are combined to the extent that their load-bearing structures are not recognized. On one side, gold leaf and etchings allude to distant times; on the other, continuously overlapping images, organized and conscious intersections of signs, iconographic metamorphoses, births and rebirths foreshadow an encounter between present universal lives and future technological ones, between real and virtual worlds. The perception of the beyond, in this case, becomes a deep, cerebral discovery of a world that reveals itself to us as if for the first time. The power of a time without time, everywhere and nowhere.”
Maurizio Vanni
MORE INFO:
Christian Balzano
online: christianbalzano.com
Charles Rahmat Woods
online: rahmatshabazz.com
Marc Blackwood
RSVP
ON VIEW: By appointment
(Mon-Fri:10am-12noon/2pm-4pm), Reservations at iicwashington@esteri.it
DOORS OPEN AT 6:15PM
PHOTO ID REQUIRED
LOCATION:
Embassy of Italy/Italian Cultural Institute
3000 Whitehaven st Street NW
Washington, DC 20008
CHRISTIAN BALZANO
Christian Balzano was born on February 12th, 1969 in Livorno where he lives and works.
In 1986 he attended the School of Fine Arts in Pisa where he gained a diploma in Applied Art, specializing in glass artworks. While studying he took part in various painting and sculpture competitions and held a solo exhibition. In 1989 he opened an artistic glassworks called “Riflesso” in Cascina (Pisa) where he worked until 1997. In 1995 and 1996 he took part in the exhibition-competition Giovani e Materia: Ricerca e Tendenza (Young People and Matter – Research and Trends) in Florence. In 2005 he repeated the experience of a solo show during the Effetto Venezia event and in 2006 he participated in a two-man show at the Tiberti di Rovato space in Brescia.
Since May 2009 Balzano is engaged with a travelling exhibition, titled Luci del destino, in some museums in Argentina. The show is organized by the Lu.C.C.A. in collaboration with the U.C.A. – Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina of Buenos Aires, the CEC – Centro de Expresiones Contemporaneas of Rosario and the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Franklin Rawson of San Juan.
In December he was present at “Exhibitalia” in the Miami Art District, on the occasion of Art Basel Miami, performing on the side of a Fiat 500.
In September 2011 he was invited to the 4th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art in the Special projects “Behind the Mirror”, curated by Maurizio Vanni at the Rudomino All Russia State Library for Foreign Literature, Moscow.
CHARLES RAHMAT WOODS
Charles Rahmat Woods has performed with Roy Haynes, Helen Humes, Don Cherry, Tarika Blue, Conjunto Peligro, Bantu, The C. Henry Woods Troupe, and others in the New York, Washington,DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas.
His recordings for RAHMAT SHABAZZ have been well received in the US, Europe, and Japan.
MARC BLACKWOOD
Marc Blackwood performed on acoustic bass or electric bass since he was 14 years old. He holds a degree from the College of William and Mary, where his love for Jazz inspired him to continue studying and performing in Washington DC. He performs with the Charles Rahmat Woods DC Love Orchestra and many others including the band Funk Art and his own bass project “InnerLoop”.