Tiziana Mazzoli
My series of paintings challenge your perception and understanding of the way we look at the world. I join together an analytical discourse bridging the diversity of cultures through humans and nature. I examine two contradictory eras: Pop Art 'consumerism' in 1950s and William Morris' Victorian Neo-Romanticism 'Art and Craft' in 19th century. These I counter-pose in over-size portraits. I am dealing with issues of beauty and repugnance as a contradiction. I aim to bring into play issues ranging from self-definition to traditions and conventions from everyday life. These ambiguous paintings of famous people for… mysterious for…, the viewer feels puzzled by the intertwined stylised pattern of nature and by the imperceptible forms that exist surrounded by the tension which society imposes on the individual and over communities as a whole. These portraits gain the level of metaphoric autonomy in which fear is dispersed by beauty. It seems that the grid of branches, foliage and flowers becomes human flesh. Here hidden life is springing from the personalities depicted. They seem to pulsate, to breathe and to convey through a range of tonality of vivid but delicate inquisitive colours, telling somehow something.
In my recent white work, the emphasis on self-definition of cultural traditions is becoming more emotionally powerful. The elegant and delicate work, through the white ink and embossed flowers on tracing paper, often disturbing by the absence of an image, produce mixed feelings of fragility and antipathy. I have been inspired by nature and by art-historical working initial source were Flemish paintings of the 17 Century which attracted me for their techniques and handling of light. As I developed I became particularly interested in botanical paintings and the powerful and continuing symbolism of the flowers forms. Searching for the way to translate in a universal visual language, I initially discovered by chance the link of heritage between two different cultures, English and Italian in respect of lacemaking and floral art. This gave me the possibility of channeling a new path towards self-determination of expression I have further develop my interest in traditional Italian and Russian lacemaking and traditional Italian and Russian lace making.
Central to my own practice as an artist, is the notion of drawing as the quiet act of arranging and becoming something else. I am challenging the sensitivity and awareness of the way we look at the world by espousing a new philosophy. I am working on 'the purity of forms in movement' and the tension. By drawing flowers and transforming them into sculptures, I seek to discover the roles in the manipulation of materials to create a mirrored reality. My processes involve introspective observation, investigation and intimate relationship with the materials. My own work is a broad based approach to two dimensional and three-dimensional images. I have worked obsessively using white ink on parchment a technique which I have researched and studied. I became responsive to the properties of the material although I paid attention to the way parchment' has been exploited in the past. For a second time I somehow find engaging the issue of beauty and repugnance as a contradiction. Touch is another key concern when I am in the process of making work. Once I create a drawing, somehow the work is telling me to recreate a drawing and transform a drawing into 3D.
I am an artist whose practice is committed to drawing, sculpture and painting.
Biography
1960 Born in Parma, Italy
Forthcoming Exhibitions
2005 Artissima, Turin, Italy
2005 Fifth Biennale of Florence, Florence, Italy
2005 27 Bond Street, London
2005 New York, USA. Represented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery
2005 La Vecchia Caserma Galleria, Parma, Italy. Solo exhibition
2005 Zart Spring Exhibition, London. Group show
Selected Previous Exhibitions
2005 Toni Heath Gallery, London. Solo Show
2005 The Glass House Gallery Corbett Projects, London. PAINTING IS NOW
2005 Royal College of Art, London. Finalist in Blind Art Competition. Sense and Sensuality
2004 Artfile Gallery, Bicester, Group show
2004 Mall Gallery, London,. The Discerning Eye. Selected by Anne Robison. Group show
2004 Kanuas Picture Gallery, M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kanuas, Lithuania. Questionmark Error Wait Understood. Group show
2004 A Gallery, London, The Best of Wimbledon. Group show
2004 Pizza Express, London. Portraits Group show. Permanent collection
2004 Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel. Variations. Solo show
2003 Hope & Glory, Bluewater, Kent. Variations. Solo show
2003 The Chapel, Brompton Cemetery, London Invisible. Group show
2003 Woodlands Art Gallery, London. Show 03. Group Show
2003 Los29enchufes, Madrid, Spain. Remote. Group Show SALT
2002 Woodland Art Gallery, London. Show 02. Group Show
2002 Café Gallery Projects, London. Open. Group Show
2001 House of Gallery, London
2001 Homerton Library, London. LXE9 exhibition: Art and Light. Group Show
2001 Kingsmead Primary School, London. U.K. Project in collaboration with Matt Michell
2000 Global Café, London. Seeing Through a Glass Darkly. Group Show
2000 Camden Arts Centre, London. Response to Paul Thek. Workshop and group show
1999 Greenwich Citizens Gallery, London. Between Two Shores. Group show
1999 The Hampshire Hog, London. The Garden Party. Group show
1999 Marlborough Special School, Sidcup. Six months project: Hands and Feet in the Sensory Garden. Workshop and solo exhibition
1999 Camden Arts Centre and Freud Museum, London. Response to Sophie Calle's theme.Workshop and exhibition
1999 Camden Arts Centre, London. Response to Laura Ford and Jacqueline Poncelet's theme. Workshop and group exhibition
1999 Notting Hill Arts Club, London. Start. Group show
1998 Serpentine Gallery, London. Project with local children in Response to Piero Manzoni. Workshop and group show
1998 Whitechapel Gallery, London. Response to Thomas Shoute.r. Workshop & group show
1998 The Tannery, London. Response. Workshop and group show
1997 New Gallery, Hall Place, Bexley. 27th. Open Art Exhibition. Group show
1997 The Gallery at Alan Baxter and Associates, London. Good Foundations. Group show
Awards
2003/4 A.H.R.B. Arts & Humanities Research Board
Collections
Osvaldas Daugelis, Director of M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kanuas, Lithuania
Goran Andreas Ohdiek. Foundation 3,14 & curator of Kanuas Picture Gallery, M.K. Ciurlionis National Museum of Art, Kanuas, Lithuania
Umberto Di Zenzo. Editor & journalist, HTT, London
Carlos Scaranci. Artist/collector
Pizza Express PR. London
Education
MA Fine Art (Drawing) Wimbledon School of Art, London
BA Fine Art (Sculpture) Central St Martin's College of Art & Design, London
BTEC Diploma Art & Design Central St Martin's College of Art & Design, London
BA Architecture Belle Arti Paolo Toschi, Parma, Italy