TOM MAZZULLO
NEWS
I’ll be showing a bunch of my zoological drawings this Fall at the Lakewood Cultural Center on Allison Parkway in Lakewood, Colorado. The show , titled Animalia,
will explore the taxonomic kingdom of all animals, including humans. The works will touch on the human relationship and fascination with the animals who share our homes and our environments. Animals, of the non-human type, have captured the imagination and awe of civilizations throughout history. We personify and imbue human notions of language and cultural characteristics onto all manner of animal species, sometimes even through the creation of chimera, or completely new imagined beings. This human captivation with the animal kingdom demonstrates the intimate interconnectedness of creatures great and small. Join us from mid-September through the end of December to experience how artists are inspired by the world of animalia.*
The exhibition opens September 22, with an opening reception from 6-8 p.m., and runs through January 6, 2024.
*this wonderful show description comes directly from Exhibition Coordinator Lauren Hegge.
Giant Scorpion (Heterometrus spinifer), 2017, silverpoint on prepared paper,
6 1/2 x 9 inches
The Inventions series of silverpoint drawings continues with an upcoming Summer exhibition at Pirate Contemporary in Lakewood. Running August 4th to 20th, 2023, the show will feature twenty of the new Three-part Inventions in the sequel to the 2021 show of Two-part Inventions. These new works combine attention to light effects and drawings of 2-D diagrams and 3-D objects, making the three parts to each invention. The drawing of the diagram informs and refers to the object, which is a hand-made sculpture, then directional and reflected light is shined on the still life to produce scintillating effects. These works are mixed-media metalpoint drawings, incorporating white gouache, as well as silver, gold, palladium, bronze and other metals worked onto the toned casein ground. The earliest works in the series were inspired by geometry and trigonometry, while the most recent drawings refer to esoteric topics and ancient architecture.
Three-Part Invention No. 16 (Pentatetrahemihexahedron), 2022, metalpoint with white gouache on prepared paper, 10 7/8 x 13 inches
I'm pleased to announce that one of my Inventions series, Three-Part Invention No. 17 (Squaring the Sphere) has been chosen for the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities Summer exhibition, "Big Draw Colorado". Featuring 77 works from 71 artists chosen from 554 artworks submitted by 205 artists, the show opens with a reception on June 8, 2023 and runs through August 27, 2023.
Three-part Invention No. 17 (Squaring the Sphere), 2022, silverpoint and palladiumpoint with white gouache on prepared paper, 10 x 12 inches
The 4th annual Architecture of Form exhibition, organized by Jude Barton, and featuring 19 Denver-area artists was held from March 10 - 26, 2023 at Core Art Space in Lakewood. I was very happy to have been invited to show four of the new Inventions series.
My most recent show was a four-person works on paper show at 931 Gallery on Santa Fe Drive in Denver entitled, Point Line Plane: Works on Paper. Organized by Jude Barton, the show includes Jude, me, Tim McKay, and John Kjos. It ran September 16 through October 16, 2022, there with an opening reception on September 16.
Three-Part Invention No. 3 (Sliced Sphere), 2022, silverpoint and palladiumpoint with white gouache on prepared paper, 12 5/8 x 15 inches
My recent show at Pirate Contemporary featured fourteen drawings I created drawing from mounts at the University of Colorado Zoological Collections during 2021. One of my greatest pleasures is to sit in front of a complex subject and work for hours to produce a lively, unique drawing with a perfect, jewel-like finish in silverpoint. I don't consider myself either a naturalist or an illustrator; both disciplines are serious endeavors for trained specialists. Rather, I like to work in the spirit of an artist faced with a beautiful subject which demands close inspection and sensitivity to produce a work of art that does justice to the once-living specimen in front of me.
Northern Flicker, 2021, silverpoint on prepared paper, 7 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches
Several of my recent works from the Study Room and Two-Part Inventions series were shown at the Loveland Museum of Art and Gallery in Loveland, Colorado earlier this year. More info on the exhibition by clicking this link: Loveland Museum. A new exhibit space has been added to the facility which is perfect for small works like mine.
Two-Part Invention No. 20, 2021, silverpoint on prepared paper, 10 x 13 inches
One of my Two-Part Inventions was shown at DFN Projects Gallery on the Upper East Side of New York City in November, 2021. The exhibition, entitled Silver, included many well-known metalpoint artists, including my friends Koo Schadler, Sherry Camhy, Lori Field, Jeannine Cook, and Lauren Redding, as well as some I only know from afar such as Costa Vavagiakis, Ephraim Rubenstein, and Lea Cole Wright, and many others whom I hope to meet one day.
Two-Part Invention No. 6, 2020, silverpoint on prepared paper, 11 x 13 1/2 inches.
Private collection.
The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities selected several of the drawings in the Incantations series for a show of textual art called Word Play, which ran September 16 through November 14, 2021. The show featured over a dozen artists including Jade Hoyer, Joel Swanson, Paula Gasparini-Santos, Jim Johnson, Jeff Page, Paul Weiner, Scott Young, Sammy Lee, Trey Duvall, Don Fodness, Lares Feliciano, Masha Sha, Cherish Marquez, and Joe Norman.
The works selected as my contribution are among the last drawings in the Incantations series; comprised of drawings of type-high blocks, each takes an existing block as its inspiration then invents several more “letterforms” to comprise a word with only vague connections to language. From reality comes abstraction, then words to describe the abstraction, then letters that mimic the sound of the word. Take away the recognizability of letters and the distant reality itself where all this started becomes lost, like the game of “telephone” we used to play as kids. And of course because it’s type, it’s all backwards to begin with.
The exhibition has been graciously reviewed in d'ART International magazine, which you can read here: Text In Art at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Colorado by D. Dominick Lombardi
Type Improvisation on n, 2017, silverpoint with highlight on prepared paper, 10 x 10 inches
Several of my zoological drawings were featured in the Denver Art Museum’s Drop-in Drawing Program last September. From the press release: “Join Drop-In Drawing Instructor Anna Kaye on Tuesday, September 14th from 1-3PM. We will take a look at the Denver Art Museum's collection to examine how animals have inspired artists throughout history. Anna Kaye will demo a variety of animal forms with multiple mediums and notable artists from our community, Laura Ball, Caroline Douglas, Javier Flores, Tom Mazzullo, Johanna Mueller, and Mai Wyn Schantz, will be sharing their perspectives on animals with us. You are invited to create artwork using your choice of materials, methods, and subjects. We are excited to create art and explore animals with you!
Mountain Bluebird, female, 2021, silverpoint on prepared paper, 7 x 6 7/8 inches
The Inventions series of silverpoint drawings were the focus of my recent exhibition at Pirate Contemporary in Denver. Running August 20 to September 5, 2021, the show featured thirteen Two-Part Inventions from the series. The titles of these works refer to the inclusion of a 2-D diagram alongside the 3-D object in the drawing, making the two parts. The diagram informs and refers to the paper object, and gets "elevated" into the third dimension by being drawn in perspective. The whole subject then is reduced down to two dimensions when it becomes a silverpoint drawing. Many of these were inspired by Wenzel Jamnitzer's engravings from the 16th century.
Two-Part Invention No. 15, 2021, silverpoint on prepared paper, 10 1/2 x 12 inches.
Private Collection.
Installation view of Two-Part Inventions at Pirate Contemporary in Lakewood Colorado, August 20- September 5, 2021.
© 2024 Tom Mazzullo