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Aug. 30 - Oct. 15, 2004
Alberto Della Vita / Tree of Life,
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| Exhibition
Dates: Monday, August 30 - Friday, October 15, 2004 Opening Reception: Wednesday, September 8, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Artist Talk: Tuesday, September 14, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., with refreshments Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.; Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.; and by special appointment Admission: Free Italian American Museum 28 West 44th Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10036 (212) 642-2020 NEW YORK, August 24, 2004—The
Italian American Museum presents Albero della Vita/Tree of
Life, The Art of Christopher Priore, a collection of recent
paintings, sculptures, and drawings by Priore, a
Manhattan-based artist. This is his fourth New York solo
show. This exhibition is also the second half of a west
coast/east coast presentation of his art at Italian American
venues, with Christopher Priore: New Adventures having been
presented earlier this year at San Francisco’s Museo
ItaloAmericano. The New York exhibition includes fantastical suspended sculptures created with feather boas, washing machine agitators, orange safety fencing, and bird nests. Priore’s black and white works on paper are painted on the back with fluorescent colors that cast a glow inside their frames. He will also be exhibiting new paintings from his ongoing series, What Holds Everything Together? These works are painted with bright, translucent lacquers on clear sheets of vinyl or Plexiglas. The stained-glass quality of the work is enhanced by its suspension in front of the gallery’s clear entrance wall. This series of paintings, which employ images of chain links, explore the age-old questions: What is everything composed of? What binds matter and relationships together? And what is the negative space composed of between the structural essences? All of the paintings, sculpture and drawings in the show explore the relative parallels between the microscopic and the cosmic, and describe a world of ambiguous scale. The exhibition is curated by the museum’s Maria Fosco. The mission of the Italian American Museum, now in its fourth year, is, in part, to present the contribution and impact of Americans of Italian descent on contemporary culture.  Christopher Priore with recent suspended sculpture in the studio |
 Poor Dimensions variable Industrial mop wringer and feather boas  What Holds Everything Together? IV H 13.5 x 20’ x 6 Transparent lacquers on two layers of Plexiglas, private collection, NYC  What Holds Everything Together? III H 15 x W20 X6 Transparent lacquers on two layers of Plexiglas |
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 In the Middle of Everywhere X H24.5 x W28.5 Graphite on museum board fluorescent backing casts glow |
 In the Middle of Everywhere XI H32’’ x W40 Graphite on museum board fluorescent backing casts glow |
About the Artist
Christopher Priore is a third generation American of southern Italian descent. His family came to the United States in the late 19th century from Sicily and Basilicata. Born in Buffalo, and raised in Pittsburgh, he attended Carnegie Mellon University attaining a BFA in 1981. His junior year of college was spent at The Tyler School of Art (Temple University) in Rome.
Priore came to the attention of the art world directly upon graduation with a series of smoke sculptures made with skywriting planes over Pittsburgh and Dayton, the latter chosen for its historical connection to the Wright brothers. A leader of his generation of young artists in Pittsburgh throughout the 1980s, he moved to Manhattan in 1989, were he has since lived and worked.
Still pursuing his interest in flight, he continues to invent an airborne world. His sculptures are often suspended from the ceiling or projected off the wall, and have a sense of implied motion. They utilize diverse materials such as washing machine agitators, bird nests, and feathers. Priore’s stained glass-like paintings with translucent lacquers on clear surfaces, or his works on paper, also illustrate an aerial world of ambiguous scale. He has exhibited nationally and abroad, with his work being viewed in Berlin, Moscow, and Hiroshima. Albero della Vita / Tree of Life, The Art of Christopher Priore is his fourth New York solo show. It is the second half of a west coast-east coast presentation of his art at Italian American venues, with Christopher Priore: New Adventures having been presented earlier this year at San Francisco’s Museo ItaloAmericano.
Priore’s art has been discussed in all forms of the mass media for two decades. Amongst the most recent, are articles in The New York Times, ELLE, and HAMPTONS. His biography will be included amongst the exclusive 100,000 Americans in the forthcoming 59th edition of Marquis’ Who’sWho in America.
Generous funding for the exhibition and programs has been provided by:
Louis Tallarini
The exhibition is also made possible in part by:
The Columbus Citizens Foundation, Inc.
Unico National Foundation
John D. Calandra Italian American Institute
Queens College
The City University of New York
Richard A. Grace
Coalition of Italo-American Associations, Inc.
Paul David Pope
Katherine & Vincent Bonomo
Donovan & Giannuzzi
The Frank J. Guarini Foundation
Ilaria, Susy and Vincenzo Marra
Vincent & Virginia Morano
Mr. & Mrs. Matt Sabatine
National Italian American Foundation
Baronessa Mariuccia Zerilli-Marimó
Excavators Union Local 731
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