Still Life

Adamo Macri is a Canadian contemporary artist who lives and works in Montreal.EARLY LIFE:Adamo Macri graduated from Dawson College in 1984. His studies combined fine arts with graphic design. The youngest of four children , Macri was born to Southern Italian emigrants originally from Serra San Bruno, a small town with medieval origins set on a plateau 2,600 feet above sea level, in the mountainous region of Calabria.ARTISTIC PRACTICE:Macri... works with photography, video, sculpture, drawing and performance art. Distinctive themes interweave in his work such as the human condition, sexuality, identity and contamination. They are considered a set of commandments. He describes his creative process simulating the act of food preparation, fashioned through the amalgamation of disparate elements. He uses different mediums in a systematic order to arrive at the end result. He compares this methodical approach to stages of procreation. Macri deals with the codependency of surface and content and the equal value of both. The example he uses to describe this concept is based on the relationship between a film and the poster created to promote it. A movie poster is a single still initiating the viewer’s imagination, prompting formulized imagery based on their interests and expectations. The outcome in actually viewing the movie can result in disappointment. The relationship between film and poster can be likened to the relationship between the container and the contained, the skin and the viscera.Macri works with the idea of film and its use of multiple stills to evoke motion and evolution. The occurrence of evolution is also symbolic of the human condition. Every individual's state of being changes significantly during the course of one single day, due to the evolutionary nature of the human psyche and the constant adaptation to environment and mood. As a result, what one considers palatable in the morning is not necessarily deemed appealing in the afternoon or the evening. The route traced by these transitions is what he refers to as a "drill", epitomized by his slogan, "If you catch me at the right time, I might be in the mood."Abstract art involves complex layering and facets. Macri claims that each aspect of the work must be conceptualized in order for it to be distinct and hold a true personalized view point. One very important facet to understand is his unique standpoint on sculpture. The idea alters the perception of the tangible object. Sculpture as a "3D Event", the practice of anti-sculpture. It is based upon perceiving sculpture as occurrence and not static presence. "An ephemeral three-dimensional occurrence, located at a specific point, which conjures up atemporal art." This reality is achieved at the final stage in his methodical process, the photographic segment. "The camera places all objects in the past tense. In an instant, sculpture has vanished and a new reality is created". Ultimately the final result must represent Macri's most important aspect of his art, the resonating image.CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS:Antipasto: Tribute to Andy Warhol for Little Electric Chair 1964.Antipasto is being developed as a large scale art project, which will consist of numerous photographic pieces, as well as performance and sculptural work. One aspect of the project is the involvement of the celebrity and how this relates to the life and times of Andy Warhol. People whom Macri considers important contributors to the treasury of culture, and who have defined our time have been selected to participate. His list is comprised of a cross-section of artists, actors, writers, pop culture icons, film directors, designers and musicians. Another objective is exploiting his unique approach to the practice of portraiture. The depiction of an individual's physicality does not form the visual, rather the image is derived by their most favourite meal and what they consume. He challenges portraiture by expanding the process to organic narrative and regarded as intimate content. Here are some, of many people on his list, that have contributed to the Antipasto project.John Baldessari - Karim Rashid - John Gilmore - John Sinclair - H.R. Giger - Loretta Lux - Henry Rollins - Raine Maida - Fischerspooner Warren Fischer - Massimo Vitali - Kiera Chaplin - Peter Hook - Floria Sigismondi - Edward Ruscha - Barry Gifford - Michael Craig-Martin - John Rankin Waddell - Chris Anthony - Franko B - Herschell Gordon Lewis - Cheyenne Jackson - Stefano Cagol - Jim Lee - Elinor Carucci - David LaChapelle - Steven Severin - Ron Athey - Ray Caesar - Roger Ballen - Adi Nes - Steve Conte - Amanda Lepore - Ulrich Schnauss - Anthony Goicolea - Marcel Wanders - Jon Burgerman - Nathan Sawaya - Lennie Lee - Stuart Pearson Wright - Mel Ramos - Chris Bucklow - Sadegh Tirafkan - David Ho - Tony Alva - Rafael Lozano-Hemmer - Michael Kenna - Carlos Betancourt - Tony Moore - Caniglia.
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