8 Meters of Rome

Official Poster for the 2011 Show "8 Meters of Rome."

My advanced drawing class had the opportunity to work with Italian artist, animator and cartoonist, Marco Raparelli, (unfortunately his official site seems to be under construction).  I enjoyed working with him, there was a bit of a language barrier, but that didn't deter me from prying into his art life.  His work and my work share similar themes, something like a cute but sinister darkly humorous personal reconstruction of how we see humanity but not trying to change the way people are at the same time.  Marco doesn't particularly like to call his work "romantic," but it was evident that love has important place in his range of subjects.

The artists, Marco, and Professore Roberto.

The showed opened and was called "8 Meters of Rome."  I honestly felt good about the work I presented, but I had a distinctly similar style to Raparelli's that I was able to invoke for this project.  The space presented 2 4 meter works by students (8 meters per student).  It was very nicely present.  However, I was a bit underwhelmed by the lack of conformity between work in the technical aspect.  In the diversity of styles, I enjoyed seeing how each of our experiences studying in Rome overlapped.  Perhaps, I am being too critical of a student show, but I was a bit embarrassed when one of the faculty members who was in charge of curating the show, commented that another show, "Works in Paper", (my work was also in this show), hung in the upstairs gallery had much stronger work.  I guess I find it difficult not to judge harshly in a field as competitive as the art world.

Mingling at the opening.

Though the turnout was very modest, a lot of our friends came out to the show opening to show their support.      It was nice to schmooze with the grad students and faculty.  And who doesn't love a little wine and party mix?!

In progress, one of two drawings.

 Most of the pictures in this post were taken from artturome.blogspot.com.  Check it out if you're interested in seeing more of the artsy goings-on at Temple Roma without my borderline a-hole commentary!

Personal Archive.  Detail of drawing.  Ink on paper.  Uban. 2011.