GIACINTO OCCHIONERO: DOT SERIES
October 15 - November 16

It is with great pleasure that Kristen Lorello presents the first solo exhibition in the United States of the Italian painter Giacinto Occhionero (b. Campobasso, Italy, 1975).  The exhibition will include a group of medium-sized recent paintings made in the artist's signature process of painting on the reverse side of sheets of transparent plastic (pvc).

 Occhionero's paintings relate aspects of nature such as trees, moss, and flowers, through compositions that include repeated dots of color.  In Rabe Yellow, February 15, 2014 (above), small circles of yellow extend from green stalks within a field.  In Black and White, March 7, 2014, dots of white swirl around a cluster of black branches, as snow falling in winter.

Occhionero makes each work with a combination of acrylic spray paint and chemical solvents.  The action of quickly tapping the nozzles of the spray cans releases paint in the shape of dots, while chemical solvents added to the paint cause separate colors to melt and blend together.  In this process, Occhionero subjects the painted image to processes such as heating, melting, and dissolving, which occur separately in nature.  As the artist has described,

I focused on the relationships between colors, directing the spray cans towards the surface from different distances and with different levels of pressure.  The simplicity of this action became complex.  Drops of color fell onto the surface like rain and expanded.

Giacinto Occhionero lives and works in Rome, Italy.  He was a 2013 artist in residence at Mau Mau, Istanbul, Turkey.  Past group exhibitions include "Rachel Higgins / Giacinto Occhionero," Kristen Lorello, NY, April 17 - June 1, 2014, “Damnatio Memoriae (or) Creating Memory," Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY, 2011, and "Biennale di Venezia 54th Edition - Molise Regional Pavillion," MACI, Isernia, Italy, 2011.