“The paintings come from drawing—not finished plans but compositional ideas that make way for the painting process. Each shape is an instance of color and a dissolution of strokes that partially reveals its underlayers and the adjustments that led to its present condition. The initial linear-spatial impetus remains, as does the bare ground on which everything gathers.
“There is no absolute division between inside and outside. Ideally, the dynamics of the pictures should reach beyond their edges, which is why the installation has also been carefully orchestrated.
“We can only encounter a painting in a particular place and time. This seems obvious, but you can’t stress the fundamentals too much. In fact, art renews itself by making its basic components felt in fresh ways.”
—Dr. Vittorio Colaizzi
About the artist: Vittorio Colaizzi is a painter and art historian, with published pieces in Woman’s Art Journal, Smithsonian’s American Art, and Journal of the Association for Study of Art of the Present. In 2009, he co-edited with Karsten Schubert an anthology of critical writings on Robert Ryman. In 2017 he compiled a Robert Ryman monograph, published by Phaidon. Colaizzi is an associate professor of art history at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, and has curated exhibitions in New York; Winona, Minnesota; and Norfolk, Virginia. Follow him on Instagram at @vcoliaz.
“Vittorio Colaizzi: New Deal,” Flippo Gallery, Randolph-Macon College, 211 N Center St, Ashland, VA. September 11 through October 15, 2022.
Congratulations Vic! Looks like a beautiful show – will definitely try to see it soon!
Thanks Sally and thanks to Kristen Peyton for the photos and to Kristen and Kathryn Henry-Choisser for installation and everything and thanks Sharon!
Beautiful painting, wish I were closer to really see them. Big congratulations
You’ve said well what you’re doing with these works, to which I add a paraphrase from an essay of yours I read just last night: “. . . wrestling meaning—not coded messages, but meaningfulness itself, what both Malevich and Ryman have called “feeling”—from the properties of the medium.
Thanks Buzz, I can only hope