Roman-born artist Andrea Sampaolo will debut his first American exhibition in Miami’s Design District on tonight with the premiere of “I am American: so I am contemporary.” Tonight’s opening reception at luxury Italian retailer Poltrona Frau’s Miami showroom from 7 to 10 p.m. will feature a live presentation introducing a new audience to the multimedia artist’s unique style and process. Privileged guests will sip cocktails and snack on hors d’oeurves as Sampaolo paints while accompanied by a three-piece orchestra. His presentation is informed by an ongoing, fluid dialog with the fine art, fashion, design, communications, musical and technological arenas.
Sampaolo pushes the extremes, painting using non-traditional tools, innovative spaces and evocative colors, to inspire the observer. Most of the “I am American” works are part of his “Free Zone” series, which the artist describes as the ultimate marriage of interiority and expression, symbolizing the delicate balance of a life lived both in the larger world and dedicated to artistic practice. Sampaolo’s work embraces and responds to the dynamic nature of both the artistic and larger contemporary world.
While Sampaolo is world-renowned, he has a particular interest in the American art scene, deriving his paintings from the American avant-garde aesthetic of the 1950s. The relationship between color and image are key to his oeuvre, but Sampaolo takes a modern look at art, enriching his work with the quest for the convergences of painting and new languages. He elicits creative opportunities from fashion, design, the technological revolution, mass communications, and even the affirmation of the consumer society, and he finds particular inspiration in the Italian underground music scene. Sampaolo’s eclectic palette has led to collaborations with some of the world’s leading brands, including a limited-edition phone design for Nokia mobile and a live performance art piece for Benetton.
If you don’t have a chance to make tonight’s cocktail for the live art presentation, 32 pieces of Sampaolo’s striking artwork will hang in Poltrona Frau for the subsequent six weeks.
The Poltrona Frau Showroom is located at 10 NE 39th St., Miami, 305.576.3636, www.frauatlantica.net.
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October 21, 2010Haute 100 Miami Update: Adrienne Arsht
