Finster Fest at Paradise Garden, GAMay 26–27, 2018 Finster Fest, the annual festival honoring the life and legacy of Summerville’s famous folk artist the Rev. Howard Finster, will take over Finster's art environment, Paradise Garden, on the Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, May 26–27. The celebration will centre on the marketplace of more than 50 artists, the majority of them self-taught. Paradise Garden Creativity Explored, CAMarilyn Wong May 10 – July 12, 2018 Creativity Explored, the premier San Francisco nonprofit visual art gallery and studio for artists with developmental disabilities, presents "Mind Place", a new exhibition exploring the psychology of place. From depictions of Ferris wheels that evoke memories, African landscapes, to psychedelic abstractions of subjects that inhabit another space entirely, the exhibition leads the viewer on a journey to ethereal environments that are physical yet based in the mind. Creativity Explored Gallery Pallant House Raising Money for Laila KassabPallant House in Chichester, UK, are trying to bring the work of Palestinian self-taught artist Laila Kassab from Gaza to the UK. Laila has been commissioned by Pallant House Gallery and Outside In to create new work but as she is unable to leave Gaza, the Gallery is requesting the public's help to safely transport her work to the UK and allow the exhibition to take place. Click here for more info and to help raise the money needed for Laila’s exhibition to happen. www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bring-laila-kassabs-artwork-to-the-uk Arts & Marges, BrusselsGuy Brunet © mariodelcurto until June 10, 2018 Arts & Marges presents the works of Guy Brunet and Josselin Pietri who are both inspired by movies and produce painted cardboard celebrities. Brunet takes on the role of a director, using his silhouettes to shoot films inspired by the golden age of cinema, while Pietri creates depictions of Bruce Lee. Arts & Marges Raw Vision 97 Article Preview:BANANA MANBartolomeo Mereu – from ice cream to sculptureBy PAVEL KONEČNÝ On the edge of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, in the Gulf of Orosei, is a once-forgotten fishing village. It lies on one of the most stunning rocky coasts of this mysterious island, which has been filled with a turbulent history. Today, it is known as Cala Gonone and is frequented by tourists from around the world. It is where a great winemaker and, until recently, well-hidden sculptor called Bartolomeo Mereu (born 1935, in Dorgali) lives. Mereu is an expert not only in wine but, curiously enough, also in ice cream. He sold the stuff for decades in his café, and from his mobile carriage nearby Dorgali. Dorgali is a peculiar mountain town on the slopes of Monte Bardia, which is famous for its traditional Sardinian craftsmanship in textiles, leather, ceramics, jewellery, knives and musical instruments. Here, Mereu lives in his house with a small garden. He is known by his nickname, taken from his favourite flavour of ice cream: Banana. However, to set up his business he had to earn money and he did this through hard work as a miner in Belgium and then Germany. He did this work, deep beneath the earth, for ten years. When he retired, around 2005, he revisited his childhood hobby: finding and gathering objects with shapes that were interesting to him, and transforming them into art. The forms that emerge under his hands can be human heads or whole figures, or animals. Wood is scarce in Sardinia, especially in the mountainous region of Barbagia that surrounds Mereu’s birthplace. Trees with carvable wood are rarely found – instead, there is an abundance of dense evergreen shrubs. Prickly pear cacti, myrtle and juniper cover much of the land. By necessity, these plants are Mereu’s materials for his unconventional work. There is a rich tradition of folklore in this until-recently isolated island world, with its deeply rooted and distinctive culture that was inherited from the mysterious builders of nuraghes (the megalithic towers that have come to symbolise Sardinia) as well as the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Etruscans and Romans. This tradition is reflected in the island’s unique folklore. However, the interconnection of Mereu’s carving with ancient magic and mysticism does not comply with the written or unwritten technical rules that are strictly adhered to and respected by many local folk craftsmen, for example in how the grimacing carved masks are produced, for the annual carnival in nearby Mamoiada or to be sold as sought-after souvenirs. Mereu’s work is much freer, more specific and, above all, it reflects his rich imagination, individual inner world and extroverted nature rather than the usual aspects of the rooted Sardinian tradition... Read more about Banana Man in Raw Vision 97, out now! |