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.”

MAM’s permanent collection, started in 1996, continues to grow and reflect the museum’s inclusive vision and dedication to international art of the 20th and 21st centuries. MAM recently added to it’s collection an important work by Marcaccio titled From Raging Aggression to Decoration (1997), the precursor to the artist’s environmental paintants.

About the Artist - Fabian Marcaccio was born in Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina, in 1963. He attended the University of Philosophy, Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina, and lives and works in New York. Marcaccio has recently participated in exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Neues Museum, Nuremberg; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Tate Liverpool; Kunstraum Innsbruck; Gemeentemuseum, The Hague; the 7th International Istanbul Biennial; and Secession Building, Vienna.

For his project at Miami Art Museum, Marcaccio will continue the evolution of his environmental works, which he has exhibited in different configurations at Kunstmuseum, Vaduz, Liechtenstein (2004); The Triennial for Contemporary Art by the Sea, Beaufort, Belgium (2003); P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York (2002); Documenta XI, Kassel, Germany (2002); Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany; and Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany (2000).

About the Curator - Cheryl Hartup is Associate Curator at Miami Art Museum. Before joining MAM in September 2000, Ms. Hartup served as the McDermott Curatorial Assistant at the Dallas Museum of Art from 1998-2000. Among the exhibitions she has organized for MAM are Jac Leirner—Adhesive 44 (2004); Light and Atmosphere (2004); Visual Poetics: Art and the Word (2003); New Work: Cildo Meireles (2003); and New Work: Odili Donald Odita (2002). She is currently working on the upcoming exhibitions Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s–70s and Ana Mendieta: Earth Body, Sculpture and Performance 1972–1985. Ms. Hartup received a M.A. in Latin American Studies and Museum Studies from New York University and a M.A. in art history from the University of Texas at Austin.