MIAMI, FLORIDA.- Miami Art Museum presents the work of Fabian Marcaccio in his first solo museum exhibition in the United States. Miami-Paintant, on view from October 29, 2004 to January 23, 2005, was created especially for MAM. The work, to be unveiled in MAM’s New Work Gallery, is Marcaccio’s seventh environmental installation. It is the first one created for a specific architectural space, with a specific city in mind. Fabian Marcaccio: Miami-Paintant is organized by Miami Art Museum and curated by MAM Associate Curator Cheryl Hartup as part of its New Work series of projects by leading contemporary artists.
Miami-Paintant is about 100-feet long and 13-feet high with a form that suggests an unfolding scroll or breaking wave. The work begins in what appears to be a white void that suddenly gives way to a tumultuous gathering of images, filled with fleshy forms and ominous thickets, ending in chaotic darkness.
Marcaccio uses traditional elements of painting to create works that are not paintings at all, but rather new inventions he calls “paintants,” or mutant paintings. The artist manipulates figure and ground, brushstroke—even the way canvas is stretched. He mixes diverse media in a single work, employing printmaking, digital photography, painting and sculpture. In doing so, Marcaccio transforms the painting’s surface into something that surrounds the viewer. The artist’s environmental paintants, which have been exhibited both indoors and outdoors, suggest murals, banners and panoramic scenery.
“Miami Art Museum is pleased to present the work of Fabian Marcaccio to South Florida audiences,” states MAM Director, Suzanne Delehanty. “As a native of Argentina, presenting a new work related to Miami, Marcaccio is a wonderful example of the rich, creative energy that percolates through our cultural community.”