Major public art commission by Felice Varini opens Friday in New Haven

Site Projects
Felice Varini: Square with four circles
June 2—June, 2011
Opening Reception: Fri., June 4, 5 p.m.

Press release
Site Projects Inc is pleased to announce our 2010 public art commission by renowned Swiss artist Felice Varini. A 110 ft tall, multi-dimensional painting, Square with four circles, will be installed in Temple Plaza. This will be Varini's first outdoor public artwork in the United States.

The opening is June 4 at 5 p.m. in Temple Plaza. Join us in celebration with live music, guest speakers, tours and festivities. Events are free and open to the public.

Work on the execution of the artwork will take place both at nighttime and during the day. The installation will be a performance piece in itself offering the public a unique opportunity to observe the artist's process and the evolution of his artwork. Beginning May 23rd at night and using a large-format, high intensity projector, Varini will project the design into the darkened site. Once the outlines are drawn by the artist and his team, the daytime work of painting the mural will begin. Painting will be completed in the following 7—8 days.

The exhibition of the artwork will be on view through June 2011. During that period, Site Projects will offer a series of programs that connect art, architecture, mathematics and technology to the ideas in Varini's art. The site of Square with four circles will include the pedestrian passageway from Chapel Street into Temple Plaza and the exterior surfaces of the sculptural concrete exit ramp of the Crown Street garage. The site of the artwork is contiguous not only to New Haven Green but also to the Shubert Theater and Zinc restaurant.

A second Varini exhibit can be seen across the New Haven Green. Three black circles in air, on view through the end of August 2010, will be a temporary indoor mural at the New Haven Free Public Library, 133 Temple Street. The installation is in partnership with Site Projects and the Patrons of the New Haven Public Library.

Photographs of earlier Varini projects will be exhibited in the Yale University Art Gallery. Related paintings by students at Coop High School who have been studying Varini's work and who will work with the artist during his residency in New Haven will be exhibited at 210 College Street.

Funding for Square with four circles has been awarded by Pro Helvetia, the Arts Council of Switzerland, National Endowment for the Arts, CT Commission for Culture + Tourism, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the Seymour L. Lustman Memorial Fund, The David T. Langrock Foundation, as well as numerous local foundations and institutions. The hospitality sponsor for this project is The Study. In addition to support from the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, Site Projects has received the endorsement of Mayor John DeStefano and New Haven's Office of Cultural Affairs and is working in collaboration with the New Haven Parking Authority.

The exhibition of Square with four circles will be a world-class cultural event and an occasion for inviting the world to New Haven.


About the artist Felice Varini:

Felice Varini was born in Locarno, Switzerland in 1952 and currently lives and works in Paris, France. He defines himself as an abstract painter, and paints on architectural and urban spaces, such as buildings, walls and streets. The paintings are characterized by one vantage point from which the viewer can see the complete painting (usually simple geometric shapes such as circles, squares, lines), while from other view points the viewer will see 'broken' fragmented shapes. Varini explains that the work exists as a whole - with its complete shape as well as the fragments: "My paintings initially appear to the observer in the form of a deconstructed line which recalls nothing known or familiar, whence the effect of perturbation they produce. As one moves through the work, the line progressively appears in its composed form. One is thus under the illusion that the work is creating itself before one's eyes."

Varini's work plays with concepts of scale, proportion, and perception. While abstract and conceptual, Varini's three-dimensional wall paintings are also concrete and material. The viewer experiences them from within; as he/she moves through the architectural space that is the canvas, new discoveries are made at every step. Before making a painting, Felice Varini generally roams through the space noting its architecture, materials, history and function. From this spatial data and in reference to the last piece he produced, he designates a specific vantage point for viewing, from which his intervention takes shape.

The vantage point is carefully chosen: it is generally situated at his eye level and located preferably along a well-traveled route, for instance an opening between one room and another, or a clearing, or a landing... He then projects the form devised for the particular space onto its surfaces from the vantage point, then traces and paints. Varini tends to use simple geometric forms: squares, triangles, ellipses, circles, rectangles, and lines. These forms are usually created in one of the three primary colors: red, blue or yellow, occasionally employing some secondary colors, as well as in black and white. He justifies his choice of simple geometric shapes and basic colors by saying "If you draw a circle on a flat canvas it will always look the same. The drawn circle will retain the flatness of the canvas. This kind of working is very limiting to me, so I project a circle onto spaces, onto walls or mountainsides, and then the circle's shape is altered naturally because the 'canvas' is not flat. A mountainside has curves that affect the circle, and change the circle's geometry. So, I do not need to portray complicated forms in my paintings. I can just use the simplicity of forms, because the reality out there distorts forms in any case, and creates variations on its own accord. The same goes for colors. Usually I use one color only, and the space takes care of altering the color's hue. For example, if I use one type of red on a mountainside, the result is many kinds of red, depending on the mountain's surface and the light conditions. Sunlight will affect the different areas on the surface and the same red color may become stronger or darker or clearer in certain areas, depending on how the sun rays hit the surface. The sky can be bright or dark. And if the surface has its own color or a few colors then that will affect the red that I apply on it. So, I do not need to use sophisticated colors. The reality exists with its own qualities, shapes, colors and light conditions. What I do is simply add another shape and color in response to that."

Unlike the majority of artists, who work within strictly defined limits, Varini uses every dimension. By creating work that is not portable and cannot easily be contained, he sidesteps the temptation to make a cult object of the artwork. For him the "art object" has become a rearguard concept. Indeed he has neither a collection to sell, nor paintings to store. "I'm entirely free from material and logistical constraints. Like a musician performing on stage, I ask for a fee from whoever is commissioning the work, whether a gallery, a collector, a town council or an arts centre. This does not prevent my works from being sold on. Once I make a work it can be removed and remade in a different place, as long a certain guidance is followed. I write a description for each work, describing its specifications, and you can remake it in another space if you follow the exact instructions for the shapes, sizes, relation to each other, and relation to the space. The new space needs to have similar characteristics to the original one. The result will not be a new work, but rather a remake of the same work. I do not make an object and move it, but I move the concept, and can remake it in the new space, in the same way that there is a written play and a theatre company can stage it in a few different theatres."

About Site Projects Inc.:

Site Projects, New Haven's leading presenter of temporary public art, was established in 2004. Site Projects is a community based non-profit organization that commissions site-specific art projects by internationally recognized artists and collaborates with local organizations to present community-wide educational programs related to the artists and their works. The goal is to present visual art that appeals to a broad and diverse audience in New Haven, a community of 125,000 people.

Previous commissions include:
Matej Andraz Vogrincic • [It Used to be My Playground] Erector Set boats in the Farmington Canal, 2007;
Jason Hackenwerth • The Revenge of the Megadon, Great Hall of Dinosaurs, Yale University Peabody Museum of Natural History, 2006;
Leo Villareal • Chasing Rainbows/New Haven, on the New Haven Green, 2004;

Opening Saturday for real Art Ways public art commissions

Real Art Ways
56 Arbor St., Hartford, (860) 232-1006
Four Public Art Projects in the Parkville and Frog Hollow Neighborhoods
May 30—Fall, 2009.
Opening Sat., May 30, 2—5 p.m., free bus tours 3—5 p.m.

Press release

Real Art Ways will present four public art projects in Hartford's Frog Hollow & Parkville neighborhoods, by artists Margarida Correia, Satch Hoyt, Sofia Maldonado, and Matthew Rodriguez. Projects will open Saturday, May 30, 2009 and will extend through the fall. Activities associated with the projects include artist talks, audio guides, bike tours, and a neighborhood map. For more information, call 860.232.1006 or visit realartways.org. The four public art projects, each created specifically for Hartford, will make use of the existing culture, creativity, and vibrancy of the Parkville and Frog Hollow neighborhoods.

From 3—5 p.m. on Saturday there will be free bus tours of the four projects leaving every 10 minutes from Real Art Ways. At 3 and 4 p.m. there will be free bike tours leaving from Real Art Ways. In addition, on or after May 30, one can have a self-guided cell phone audio tour by dialing (860) 760-9979.

• Photographer Margarida Correia has been working with members of Hartford's Portuguese community. Two Parkville billboards will display photographs of Hartford youth embracing their Portuguese heritage, and of the Praia da Nazaré, Portugal's famous beach. Street lamp banners on Park Street will display album covers of famous Fado singers. There will be an accompanying audio component. Artist Talk: TBA

Correia was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Margarida's work explores the relationships that people from her generation develop with things they collect and care for. She is interested in how inherited objects are interwoven with personal stories to develop our understanding of history, how they can go beyond their simple physical existence by linking the cultural values of successive generations.

• Satch Hoyt will create a labyrinth in Frog Hollow's Pope Park. The labyrinth, constructed from clotheslines, will address the migratory voyage of the residents who reside in the neighborhood. Upon completion, the public will be invited to traverse the labyrinth's path. Artist Talk: Thurs., May 28 6 p.m., with Matthew Rodriguez.

Hoyt, born in London to a white British mother and a father of African-Jamaican ancestry, is currently living and working in Berlin, Germany. The sculptural trope in Hoyt's work addresses the facts on the ground, so to speak, of black experience, while his drawings tap into a spirit of fantasy, refuge, and transcendence. Hoyt is also an accomplished professional musician and composer. His visual art often draws from his musical background.

• Sofia Maldonado's mural, on the Pelican Tattoo building in Frog Hollow, will blend elements of female aesthetics and street cultures. Maldonado will also collaborate with young people in Parkville and Frog Hollow neighborhoods resulting in the creation of uniquely designed murals and events that celebrate youth culture. Artist Talk: Thursday, August 27, 6 p.m.

Maldonado was born in Puerto Rico. During her undergraduate studies she painted numerous murals, with or without permission, in abandoned buildings, barrios and indoor spaces as a way to bring beauty to each site. Sofia's artwork is a blend of fashion trends, the Latina female aesthetic and various street culture elements, such as skateboarding, graffiti, public art, reggaeton and punk music.

• Matthew Rodriguez will install a series collages and murals that use found materials, staged photographs, and paintings, including 70 characters on trees in Pope Park and one on the side of a local Parkville bakery. The results will be playful "characters" residing in the neighborhood's neglected spaces. Artist Talk: Thursday, May 28, 6 p.m., with Satch Hoyt.

Rodriguez was born in Houston, Texas. His childlike creations encapsulate urban anxieties while ridiculing them by standing out in stark contrast to their decaying surroundings. He draws out and celebrates the character of these overlooked spaces, asking the viewers to recognize the potential in the world around them.

Kristina Newman-Scott, Real Art Ways' Director of Visual Arts, explains the artist selection process: "The world of contemporary art can sometimes be very insular, its audience limited to those who seek it out in galleries. The artists we selected for this program have a particular interest in working in the public realm, and their works simultaneously connect people to the art and to each other. Therein lies the magic."

Will K. Wilkins, executive director of Real Art Ways, says, "Frog Hollow and Parkville are two urban neighborhoods with a lot to offer. Real Art Ways is sponsoring this new art, but we are also trying to make people aware of what is already in the neighborhoods."