Alessandro Reggioli - the heart of

AlessAlessandro Reggioli began making hearts for a show called "Broken Hearts" that I hosted in my studio gallery in Florence, Italy February 14th, 2005.  A lot has changed since then.

I moved to France, started painting cityscapes with black on my palette and the anatomical heart has become one of Alessandro's most important icons.

This is a giant heart that was in an exhibition awhile ago in Certaldo.  The exhibition was also gigantic. Palazzo Pretorio in Boccaccio's Certaldo is an enourmous space that most artists would dream of filling in one lifetime let alone for a solo show.  Alessandro didn't blink an eye.

Alessandro sei grande!

Summer at Hooper - Cold Spring Harbor Labratories

The show was in Hawkins Lecture Hall. There was a great turnout here are some pix.

This is Jim Hicks and myself with the painting Café de Flore.

Here are James ad Liz Watson with myself. 

In a few weeks we go back to Paris.  I am excited to go home after such a fantastic summer here in Cold Spring Harbor.  What a unique place. It is like being in a family with the smartest people from around the globe. 

the paintings-- Summer At Hooper - 20 August 6-9pm -

Here are the paintings that will be on display at

Wendt Auditorium
Friday evening 20 August 6-9 pm at
Cold Spring Harbor Labratories- CSHL
Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724

Deliveries, 30x40 inches, oil on canvas.

 I could work on this another ten days but had to stop to finish more paintings.

This is Stormy Day on 6th, 30 x 40 inches, oil on canvas. You can almost feel the heat.

Power Lines, 44x55 cm, oil on linen. 

Jericho Turnpike,  24x24 inches.

Madison Square Garden, 24x24 inches.

No title yet. I sill have to finish this one but it is on Broadway. Oil on canvas, 30x40 inches. I love the crowd. The next series is going to be the massive crowds in Times Square.  but bigger pieces.

Motor Inn, permanent marker and oil on linen, 44x55 cm.

Café de Flore, oil on canvas, 30x40 inches. I'm not sure if I'll have it done for Friday.

Rush Hour,  maiolica plate, 40 inches. I was terribly disappointed but it is the first time I try maiolica. the next ones will be better.  This is already sold too! 

Quando Bacco Trionfa, 60x80 cm, oil on canvas, from 2006. One of the last available still lifes from the Italian cuisine series.

Troppi Cuochi, oil on canvas 60x120 cm, also from 2006. This painting and the preceding one were in the NY ARTEXPO in 2006.

I love the flowers.

Addiction and Art Talk by Dr Margaret Dowell

Addiction and Art  Johns Hopkins Press, co-edited by Margaret Dowell came out in May. The wave of the book's release has inspired a slew of exhibitions that began with Innovators Combating Substance Abuse. 

August 12th at the Jonal Gallery 653 Locust Street, Columbia, PA 17512 tel- 717-681-9400 Dr Margaret Dowell will talk about addiction and art and will be available for signing your copy of the book.

Here is a quote from an excellent review on the book Guinevere Gets Sober:

Creativity and artistic expression can play a significant role in raising awareness not only of the personal toll caused by substance use disorders but also the new life born in recovery.

Patti Mollica

Artist Patti Mollica is impressive.  She drew sharks while scuba diving. I found her by googling "paintings of New York." Her lovely urban scenes of the big apple knocked my socks off straight out.

As I paint New York I find myself bogged down in details, partially because I paint from photographs.

Patti you are an inspiration!

Here is her blog
http://newyorkpainter.blogspot.com/
and her website
http://www.mollicastudio.com/htmlpages/swimmingwithsharks.html

Art Galleries in Chelsea

The art galleries in Chelsea are hot. I remember when Soho was the gallery district, then it was Greenwich village, that was when Manhattan was dangerous. Now it is almost an amusement park.

I visited the Jenkins Johnsen Gallery and the Gallery Henoch among many. What is surprising to me about the vast majority of the art in NY is the amount of representational figurative painting,  much being cityscapes of New York. In Paris more abstract painting is present.

The underwater swimmer paintings by Eric Zener stuck in my. The figure in water is a common subject but there is nothing boring about Zener's figures. They're painted with a magnificent technique. His beach scenes remind me of the paintings by one of my favorite painters present in the Ariel Sibony Gallery in Place des Vosges in Paris, Magi Puig.