THE ARNO’S ANCIENT GREEN IS HOLY, NOT COLOR

In Florence you sleep
with yesterday’s forgotten
Ghosts that clench your hair.
Tangled, they let go
when mothers of mothers soothe
Scraped ankles with clay.
In Florence, westward
The Arno’s ancient green is
Holy, not color
But the stained words of
poets pulled deep beneath the
Swan’s rippled S curve.
This Sunday I want
For you, Rosemary sprig and
the river’s blessing,
the sacred taste of
strawberry, enduring tears
from a headless saint.

Un silenzio sembra pervadere le composizioni di Joel: un silenzio che splende nell’impianto strutturale delle linee, e che scivola verso gli elementi che racchiudono, svelando una trama che non spiega, ma induce lo spettatore isolare ed intuire il sentimento delle cose, dei luoghi, così fortemente evocativi e poetici per l’artista.

È il silenzio che deve aver accompagnato Joel nelle sue lunghe passeggiate sulla riva dell’Arno, lo stesso silenzio che gli ha premesso di ascoltare lo scorrere, mutevole ed eterno, dell’acqua e delle infinite sfumature intonate al verde che l’artista richiama non nelle opere, condotte a grafite, ma nel titolo, evidenziandone l’elemento sacro, astratto, eterno, riflesso nelle fronde dell’albero di magnolia che ha osservato rinnovarsi ogni giorno, così come nei fondali metafisici degli affreschi dell’Angelico e nelle opere di Masaccio e Pontormo. È quel verde che l’artista sa di poter rivedere ogni volta che vorrà visitare questo suo luogo della memoria, per ritrovarsi, ancora, nella sintesi di quella luce.

Silence seems to permeate the compositions: a silence that shines through the structure of traced lines, flowing within the elements that enclose it, revealing a plot that does not explain but inspires in the viewer the feeling of things and places that are so evocative and poetic for the artist. An echo of the silence that accompanied Joel in his long walks on the banks of the Arno. The same silence that allowed him to recall the metaphysical backgrounds of Angelico’s frescoes and the work of Pontormo, while listening to the perpetually changing flow of water and its countless shades of green.

The artist evokes this green in the title he has chosen for its corpus of work, rather than in the drawings themselves, which are created using graphite. In doing so, he expresses its sacredness, its holy abstraction – The Arno’s Ancient Green is Holy, Not Color –, which he saw shining through the magnolia’s flowers and leaves, as well as in the metaphysical backgrounds of Fra’ Angelico’s frescoes, and in Masaccio’s and Pontormo’s work. That green he can recall every time he wants to visit this place of his memory, and discover himself in the synthesis of that light.

Elisa Gradi, Art History Supervisor at LdM

I met Joel for the first time when only a few days separated us from the
beginning of the spring semester 2020. […] Being the LdM Gallery Coordinator, the possibility of organizing the personal exhibition of an important and celebrated artist was something I was expecting with great enthusiasm. Joel turned out to be exactly what they told me about: kind, professional and deeply in love with the experience he was having with his family in Florence. […] I distinctly remember his excitement and enthusiasm with which he had accepted to work in view of his exhibition. […] Unfortunately, he couldn’t do this in the gallery, but the extraordinary thing is that he still managed to carry out his project inside his Florentine apartment, a large part of it transformed
in his studio. […] All of us are left with the pleasure of enjoying his works,
grateful to Joel for his passion and infinite humanity.

Federico Gori, LdM Gallery Coordinator

This seemingly disjointed list is woven together through a series of paintings realized during the artist’s sojourn at the British School of Rome in 2019. The works are an extension of the themes running throughout Owen’s career, expanded through reflections on baroque capacities to rupture the standard framing devices of stretched canvas, and an interest in the immediacy of painting as a medium, as well as the nature of domestic scenes to conjure historic resonance. Rest is embraced as a release carried in the exhibition through the image of youth, with an ethereal and nuanced gaze towards that which is eternal.

For the V° Edition of Black History Month Florence under the theme OBBLIGATO, this exhibition invites us to reflect upon collective notions of nourishment, repose and mourning.

SIKELELA OWEN is a London based painter. She is a Fine Art graduate of the Chelsea College of Art and Design and the Royal Academy School of Arts.
Her paintings explore the history of painting on canvas, combining traditional techniques with a contemporary and personal subject matter, in order to create pieces that appear familiar yet are not easily decipherable.

Click on the image below to see the full catalog.

The exhibition SUPPER, SLEEP, AND SORROW will run from Wednesday, February 19th to Thursday, March 5th.
After the launch, the LdM Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Thursday, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Opening night will include a free aperitivo.

Imago originates from an open call launched at the beginning of Fall 2019 Semester to all the LdM Photography students. The best photographs have been selected based on the quality of the image, the creative process and the originality of the idea.

From landscapes to food and fashion photography, exploring the worlds of digital, classic and fine art, Imago visually represents the connection between the photographers and their experiences during their time in Florence. Through their artworks, students condensed fragments of their life within the imaginary space of a photograph; landscapes, food styling, portraits and photomontages provide glimpses on personal, contemporary tales.

The exhibition Imago offers all LdM students and faculty members an opportunity to look at the outcomes of the Photography department, in the form of student artworks that have been selected for their technical excellence and expressive power. It also encourages Photography students to reflect on their personal and professional growth throughout the semester, while giving them an opportunity to showcase their abilities at the LdM Gallery, in the very heart of Florence.

Featuring student work from the following courses: 

Intro to Classic Photography, which covers the practice of 35mm black and white analog photography. The course explores darkroom printing techniques and processes, focusing on theme work and the development of a portfolio;

Introduction to Digital Photography, which provides the foundations of theory and practice in digital photography and photo editing. It examines techniques and processes to develop abilities related to effective visual communication;

Fundamentals of food design, styling and photography, a course that explores the basics of food styling, photography and control of artificial lighting to achieve creative effects in a photography studio environment;

Principles of Fashion Photography, an introduction to digital photography, with a focus on the essentials of fashion photography. Students learn creative digital and classic photography skills and techniques for fashion applications.

Click on the image below to see the full catalog.

The exhibition IMAGO will run from Tuesday, December 3rd to Thursday, December 12th.
After the launch, the LdM Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Thursday, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Opening night will include a free aperitivo.

The exhibited works draw on two different class projects, “GEOMETRY” and “TRIPTIQUE”, which are aimed at stimulating graphic expression, and strengthening the author’s stylistic hallmark through serial production (hence the creation of triptychs). The compositions on display are a result of the artists overcoming the difficulties imposed by the constraints of the assignments (obligation to use only one geometric shape, color range limits, etc.) through a creative process intended to develop lateral thinking strategies.

The title GEOMETREE acts as a metaphor to the creative design process: simple, geometric forms are planted as the base of the composition, while the designers’ unique style allows the draft to grow into a work of art. The artworks have been realized on assignments and methods illustrated by Paolo Ghielmetti, Graphic Design Professor, and they have been selected by Federico Gori, Advanced Painting Techniques Professor and LdM Gallery’s Art Director.

Click on the image below to view the full catalog.

The exhibition GEOMETREE will run from Wednesday, November 20th to Thursday, November 28th.
After the launch, the LdM Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Thursday, 5:30-7:30 PM.

Opening night will include a free aperitivo.

Featuring the works of five emergent artists, Ghosting explores the impalpable border between physical and virtual reality, delving into their intricate and fleeting intersections, and presenting landscapes hovering between the digital world and everyday three dimensional life.

Chasing the ephemeral traces left by past interpersonal relations, the artists explore, challenge and question the evocative power of image, awakening ghosts, reflections, wreckages; mere glimmers and shadows of presence turned into absence.

Click on the image to see the catalog of the exhibition.

The exhibition GHOSTING will run from Tuesday, September 17th to Thursday, October 10th.
After the launch, the LdM Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Thursday, 5.30-7.30 PM.

Opening night will include a free aperitivo.

Perpetual Adage is a series five years in the making that depicts classic ballerina and Marist-LdM Alumna Anna Russell dancing in 2014 and again in 2019. The past, present, and future are fused together to capture the omnipresent self-transformation process that everyone experiences in life.

The artworks in this series were realized using various traditional and contemporary techniques. While some of the images were painted, others were further developed using Adobe Photoshop and printed on contemporary materials. For example, in the piece Perpetual, three images were printed on separate transparent layers of plexiglass, juxtaposing a two-dimensional image onto a three-dimensional plane. The synthesis of traditional and contemporary materials represents the dynamic and multifaceted nature of identity.

Click on the image to see the catalog of the exhibition.

The exhibition PERPETUAL ADAGE will run from Monday, July 15th to Thursday, August 1st.
After the launch, the LdM Gallery is open weekly from Tuesday to Thursday, 4.30-7 PM.

Opening night will include a free aperitivo.