6 wooden pages of oil paint, graphite and wire, 7.7 x 6.25 x 3.5 inches, unique. $600
Cheese cloth, oil paint, wood and wire, 4.25 x 4 x 1.5 inches, unique. $350
Book, 8 x 10 inches, read-a-long animated DVD (5 minutes 37 seconds), puzzle with 81 pieces, notecard and envelope 4 x 5 inches, open edition. $50
Statement
The Wooden and Wire Books are about the synthesis of organized sounds. Each page is a composition (miniature painting) in itself. Combined they create a symphony of Music to the viewer. The large variety of materials (wood, wire, oil paint, graphite and cheese cloth) combines to create a medley of rhythms and lyrical poetry on each page. The “arte povera†appearance of this series, create sensual and vulnerable poetics of abstraction. The materials and methodology create the sculptural and tactile elements of the books. The marks and lines capture the rhythms and dynamics of each page that make a statement about the translation of sounds to visual abstract art. Each page is its own composition and together as a book they make music.
What am I? The story of an Abstract Painting Book & read-a-long DVD set includes an 81 piece Puzzle and Notecard. It is a first in the series The Am I Collection. This book may be used as a tool by encouraging readers of all ages to look at, accept, and deal with images of an abstract nature. It enables them to be more imaginative and less constricted about what things ought to look like and more ope n to what things can look like.
The possibilities are endless to the interpretations of any abstract painting. Through color, shape and line, a variety of associations may be arrived at. The atmosphere that an artist creates through brushstrokes and textures may suggest many different places or spaces. Color may provoke ideas and feelings. Shapes can be used as metaphors in a person’s life. A line can direct a path or be a branch of a tree.
After spending time with an abstract painting, you may actually begin to see the world a little bit differently.
Biography
The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, featured Serena Bocchino working in her studio in a film documentary called, Observer Highway Revisited, by Monica Sharf of Inversion Films. Bocchino and her work have been the subject of a total of four films, the most recent of which, A Dream of Blue, by Down the Line Productions, received the 2009 Best Inspirational Documentary Award by the NY International Independent Film & Video Festival.
New York City galleries began exhibiting Bocchino’s work in 1985. Since then, galleries and museums worldwide have featured her work in solo and group exhibitions. Selected Solo Exhibitions Include: Tria Gallery, NY; IMPROV Cambridge, MA; ArtHaus, San Francisco, CA; Morris Museum, NJ; Pfizer Inc NY; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, Wilmington DE; Studio Bocchi, Rome, Italy.
Bocchino has a Masters Degree from New York University, where she studied painting in the graduate program with Adele Weber, Sherrie Levine, Robert Kaupelis and Collette. Her color theory studies were with Voy Fangor. She also studied painting with Arie Galles, Printmaking with Marvin Goldstein and drawing and painting with Harold Keller.
Bocchino has been recognized by many art institutions for her work and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the PS 1 International Studio Residency, the Artists Space/Artists Grant, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Art Matters Grant, the Brodsky Center Printmaking Residency and the Basil Alkazzi Award. Her work is included in prestigious private, public and corporate collections throughout the world, including those of Art in Embassies Program, The Montclair Art Museum, The Morris Museum, The Jersey City Museum, Zimmerli Art Museum, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, McKinsey & Co. Inc., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Pfizer Inc and Johnson & Johnson.
Serena Bocchino has received extensive reviews of her work in many different periodicals and newspapers. Most recently, her solo 2008 solo exhibition at Tria Gallery in New York received a wonderful review in Art in America (March 2008). That same year, her paintings in a two person exhibition received similarly strong reviews in both The New York Times and Newsday.
