Marco Salvatore Mallamaci: From China to the United States via Italy

Solo Exhibition
12 June - 4 July 2009
Museum of the Americas
Adress: 2500 NW 79th Ave, #104, Doral, Florida 33122
MIAMI / USA

Curated by Sabrina Falzone



Biographical Notes
by Sabrina Falzone

Born shortly after the Constitution of the Republic of Italy came into effect, the internationally recognised artist Marco Salvatore Mallamaci is of aristocratic Greek lineage that can be traced back to the very foundation of his birthplace, Magna Graecia.
An artist, collector and official of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1979, Marco is a multifaceted character who surprises everyone he meets. He mostly lives abroad and is currently living in Managua (Nicaragua), where he is posted as Acting Consul.
He has travelled widely through Asia, Africa, America and Europe. These journeys have left indelible traces on his path in life, significantly enriching the cultural, ethnic, political and professional experiences which now represent the foundation of his inner wealth, the well from which he draws his inexhaustible creativity.
It is not by chance that the self-taught artist's corpus of pictorial works has a distinctly cosmopolitan feel: he can, to all intents and purposes, be defined a "citizen of the world."
In 1968 he emigrated to Canada, where he obtained his degree in Foreign Languages and Literatures from the University of Windsor.
Marco began painting in the early 1980s, having moved from Rome to Namur in Belgium. Under the influence of Eugenio Barra, a painter and lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, whom he had met in the capital in 1979 and from whom he bought many works, Marco began gathering information on artistic techniques, eventually discovering oil painting as the perfect medium through which to express himself.
The incipit of his art can be seen in the painting "Latin America: The General U$ed", a work described as "a masterpiece" by the Chinese painter and critic Zhang Runshi ("Chinese Art" magazine no. 41, 15 October 2005).
In the twenty-year period between 1980 and 1999, Marco moved to other countries besides Belgium, including Ethiopia, Great Britain and Colombia. 1999 turned out to be a decisive year, in which he settled in Beijing (China), a new home that would propel him to national stardom.
By 2003, Marco had begun to showcase his paintings to tens of thousands of art lovers and collectors at major international exhibitions in Beijing and Canton.
Making his debut in the October of that same year, he participated in the Sixth Beijing International Art Exhibition. His appearance was greeted with public and critical acclaim. To quote but one review by the Chinese poet and painter Wang Xunsheng: "Marco is an outstanding contemporary painter: Italian art has found its heir."
Marco's sensational popularity with the Chinese media has given his reputation an enormous boost. The prestigious monthly magazine "China Today", founded by the wife of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Founding Father of the People's Republic of China, was one of the first to sit up and take note. The fourth edition of "China Today" (April 2004) published a three-page feature on Marco, including an interview conducted by Dr. Hu Chunhua, Director of the French edition ("La Chine au Présent").
His success didn't stop there. In 2004, Marco won the "Golden Prize" at the Seventh Beijing International Art Exhibition, attracting the attention of major national television networks, including CCTV (the equivalent of BBC in the United Kingdom) and "China International Investment Media Network TV." The media frenzy continued in the printed press, with Marco's work being praised in newspapers such as "Canton News", "The Canton Journal" and magazines such as "Famous People in Beijing", "Beijing Tatler" and "Collections of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy".
Marco has become China's most famous foreign artist, a true icon of contemporary art. In 2005, he achieved further success with his participation at the Second Beijing International Art Biennale.
Art critics particularly fond of his work include Li Xianting, Zhao Shulin, the Hon. Bai Yuzhang, art critic Yang Wei and journalists such as Dr. Wang Zhong, director of the art magazine "Art", and Dr. Xu Yonglin, whose magazine "Chinese Art" even devoted a six-page feature to Marco.
2005 was also the year that Marco returned to his home country and to Rome, only to discover that his phenomenal success in China had spilled over into Europe. Regularly invited to exhibit his work at both public and private institutions, he enjoyed favourable reviews from art historians and critics from both Italy and abroad. In one review by the famous art critic and historian Sabrina Falzone, Marco was described as "the forerunner of a Neo-Existentialist symbolism for the 21st century".
In October 2007, Peter Russu, the director of "Art Addiction" and editor of "World of Art Magazine", both London-based publications, showed particular interest in a publication on MASTERS, focused on Marco.
In November 2007 he took part in "Impressions of the East", the International Art Exhibition held in the impressive Palazzo Spinola di San Luca (also known as the Palazzo Ratto-Picasso) in Genoa.
The following month, as a guest of the Scientific Committee, Marco appeared (for the first and last time) at the sixth edition of the International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence, held at the Fortezza da Basso.
In 2008 he was the Guest of Honour at the fourth International Biennale of Ferrara, sponsored by the Municipality and Province of Ferrara and held at the historic Palazzo Ex Borsa.
Marco's success is proof that art can still be considered a valid tool for unprejudiced political, ethical and social expression. (Sabrina Falzone)
 

Exhibition hours: Tuesday-Friday, 11-5 and Saturdays by appointment only


Contact:
www.marcoartstudio.com

Sabrina Falzone Critic and Art Historian
info@sabrinafalzone.info - www.sabrinafalzone.info