pia pizzo

The Ring Of Unity

Pia Pizzo at SFCB Online Gallery

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Since the early seventies my research has led me to a continual exploration of the book as an Art form. In my books or pages the tactile values of materials are found in each and every sheet of paper that is torn and worked upon with such patient care so as to lay bare the innermost fibers, to feel its textures, its porosity, the very tissue of its surface.

The non-books or rather the non-readable books that I contemplate as extension of the perspective of both mind and memory, set out to recount a happening, a state of affairs or a journey within the page or through the pages. The page is therefore the chosen setting for any hypothetical adventure you may embark upon or any hypothetical message you may be seeking: the blank page thus represents the virgin void of mental space. In this way the progressive cutting, this virtual inter-framing between one page and another, opens up upon the perspective against which and within which the mind can roam at will.

The sequence of the pages, which act as the filters/screens of an unidentifiable

complex  machinery, unfolds with kinetic rhythm as you turn the pages, so these books become the arena within which to unwind your mind rather than the stage for grasping codified messages. The tearing of the paper is never the outcome of an aggressive approach but stems rather from studied feeling and touching, from physical contact with both the material and reality at the same time, as a step towards thinking once again in tactile terms.

The representation of the Symbols represents the many complex aspects of reality, as a tool to transform Energy. C.G.Jung:On Psychic Energy.

Symbols and diagrams are sometime used to explain, through the golden proportions and sacred geometry, the relationships that exist within Human Nature and the universe.

When I start a work of art, there is an empty space, a void, and I search how to

balance form with emptiness, knowing when one has ” says ” enough. The shapes that take form are so integrally related to is empty space giving the feeling of marvelous Void. Because Void is a dynamic entity.

The Non-Books and pages without words or images are focused only on the light and shadows created in the empty spaces of their construction, they are composed with natural light which cause the pieces to vibrate as the light change through the course of the day. As well as an awareness of the unknown fathoms of exploration, my work demands the music of silence.

BIO

Born in Palermo, Italy

1956          Diploma High School of Art Orsoline of San Carlo, Milano, Italy

1956          Studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts Brera, Milano, Italy

1957          BFA from the Ministry of Public Instruction, Rome, Italy

1960          First Solo Exhibition, Milano, Italy

1960          Awarded First Prize at The National Drawing Competition Diomira, Milano, Italy

1964          to 1998, represented by Suzanne Bollag Galerie ( Bollag Galeries ), Zurich, Switzerland

1967          to 1969 lived and worked in New York, N.Y.

1968          Awarded a Residency at the Mac Dowell Colony, Peterborough, N.H., USA

1972  to 1994 ” Basel International Art Fair “, represented by Susanne Bollag Gallery, Zurich

1972          to 1976 lived and worked in London, England

1977          to 1982 lived and worked in Milano, Italy

1982          Moved to Long Beach, California

1984          Since 1984 she is Permanent Resident of the USA

1984          Fellowship from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York, N.Y.

1984          Fellowship from the California Arts Council, Sacramento, CA

1985          Awarded one year residency at the Long Beach Nature Center  to  work with visually impaired and blind

children  at a 5′x 8′x 14″ Permanent Tactile Book  Sculpture “, Long Beach, CA.

1987          Honorable Mention at the “ Women Artist of California “, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA.

1988          Awarded First Prize at the XXIII National Exhibition, Capo d’ Orlando, Italy

1988    Selected for a Solo Exhibition “ The Books of the Future “, for the 500 year celebration of the first

printed  Jewish Bible, Soncino, Italy

1989   Awarded Artist of the Year, Distinguished Visual Artist, from the Public Corporation for the Arts,

PCA, Long, Beach, CA.

1995     Lecturer at the Cal. State University, ( Art  and Technology ) “ Books as Art “, Long Beach, CA

1995   Lecturer at the Cal. State University, ( Art  and Technology ) “ Sculptural-Books “, Long Beach, CA

1995   to 2005, Instructor of Design and Visual Communication at Brooks College, Long Beach, CA.

1998   Interactive poetry workshop with poet Manazar Gamboa, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA

1999            Honorable Mention at the “ Digital Art in a Traditional World “, Long Beach Arts Gallery, Long Beach

2001  Awarded by the Public Corporation for the Arts, PCA, Individual Artist Fellowship for 2001, Long

Beach,           CA.

2001   Awarded Permanent Art in Public Space, City of Gardena, Gardena, CA.

2003            Biographical record in the 6th Edition of Who’sWho of American Educators, Marquis Who’sWho

2002  2005   Biographical record in the 23rd  and the 24th  Edition of Who’sWho of American Women,

Marquis Who’sWho   in America

.

1960    to 2008   35 Solo Exhibitions in Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, England, USA

1957    to 2009   91 Group Exhibitions in Italy, Taiwan, Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, Switzerland,

Macedonia, England, Germany, Brazil, USA

Pia Pizzo’s artworks are in Museums, Libraries, Archives and Private Collections in USA, Europe, Brazil and Taiwan