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press
release
KENT, CONNECTICUT - New oil paintings by celebrated
Italian artist, Alberto Mancini, and sculpture
by New York City artist, John Balsamo, will
be shown at a new exhibition at the Morrison Gallery
beginning Saturday, April 26th through May 25th, 2008.
An
Opening Reception from 3 to 5 pm on Saturday, April
26th will kick off the exhibition at the
acclaimed 7,000-square foot Morrison Gallery, located
in the Old Barns section of Kent near the intersection
of Route 7 and 341.
The exhibition
will include more than 15 works by Mancini, winner
of numerous prestigious awards including the "Leon
d'Oro Assessorato alla Cultura," along with six
bronze sculptures by Balsamo, whose work "Corey
Abstract" was reproduced to a monumental size
last year for an outdoor sculpture park at the renowned
Geochang Granite 2007 International Sculpture Symposium
in South Korea.
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Alberto
Mancini, born in 1960, is from the small
town of Atina, located in the mountains of southern
Italy where his family has lived for 400 years. His
father, a portrait photographer, taught Mancini to
draw as a boy, and encouraged him to experiment with
a variety of media. Mancini had his first art exhibition
at the age of 15. After graduation from art school,
Mancini returned to the mountains of southern Italy
to begin a family and to practice architecture. He
also continued to paint and accrued critical attention.
In 1997, his work was exhibited in what was called
"the most important exhibition ever organized"
in the Lazio region near Rome.
Mancini has been described as both poet and painter.
The Italian poet and essayist Alfonso Cardamone said,
"Mancini masters his technique. He is modern
because he meticulously deconstructs images. He goes
beyond every post-modernism and is never influenced
by banality and self-complacent insignificance."
John Balsamo was born and lives in New York.
John worked as an art director for Revlon for many
years and left a successful commercial career to devote
his time solely to his art. He won the Fence Art Show
Painting Award and has shown at the Brooklyn Museum.
A working member at the Art Students League of New
York, his work has been shown at the Cork Gallery
in Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center.
Balsamo's bronze sculpture has been acquired by collectors
in New York, Montreal and Paris. The Art Students
League of New York purchased his "Le Torse Bleu"
for its permanent collection and the work is currently
on display at the League.
For more information call the gallery at: 860.927.4501
