The talented Italian artist Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi, after gaining European success showing her artwork in Milan, Rome, Venice, Palermo, London, Oxford and Paris, for the fourth time in her young career she exhibits her beautiful paintings in Manhattan, at Ward Nasse Gallery, founded by Harry Nasse.
The gallery boasts 56 years of activity, of which the first 10 were in Boston, and the other 46 in SoHo. The group show that Chiara is part of is the tenth edition of Women in Art, created by the accomplished curator and artist Leda Maria Prado, and takes place during the month that the United States dedicate to women. March is the time that evokes tragic moments in history and at the same time it’s the month that celebrates the female realm since 1909, as attested by March 8th: Women’s Day. In 1911 this tradition was also acquired by other countries, Italy took part in these celebrations in 1922.
March in America is strongly felt, and Womanhood is at the core of the cultural and artistic dynamism, with hundreds of events that take place all over the country. One of these is the “Armory Show,” the premier spring art fair, that ever since 1994 is held annually in March on Piers 92 & 94, in one of the city’s industrial gems. The international event combines access to high quality modern and contemporary art. Its influence is reverberated in the collateral smaller fairs and special events which are held that same week in the Big Apple, that effectively is named “Armory Show Week.” One of these events is the one where our Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi is featured. After her international success she was invited to join this group show of Women Artists.
“Armory Show”
The renowned “Armory Show” deserves a couple of words for our readers, since this event was born in New York in 1913 and has therefore a tradition of a hundred years! The opening ceremony was first located at the 69th Infantry Regiment Armory, in the Rose Hill section of Manhattan, where the work of several European artists was introduced to the public for the first time in the history of American visual arts. The artwork was selected by A. Davies e W. Kuhn, along with United States artists from the XIX century and contemporary artists. The show was a success and eventually became a milestone of visual arts in America, as well as being a reference point to new generations of American artists. Since that day, every year new artists join the fair.
The interesting trait of this artistic event is that the first edition of 1913, featured the artwork of artists that today are international stars of the visual arts: the European P. Gauguin, V. Van Gogh, O. Redon, H. Matisse, M. Duchamp, C. Brancusi; with the American “The Eight”; the Modernist O. Bluemner e A. Mauer; and the young progressive artists such as P.H. Bruce, S. Davis, J. Marin, M. Russel, J. Stella, l. Feinninger.
Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
Chiara, as well as being a young and talented artist, is also a skilled writer who is bilingual (Italian and English) and is fluent in French and Spanish; she is a polyglot who does not suffer idiomatic illiteracy and, being so well-travelled, is a citizen and artist of the world.
Chiara is a member of the Italian Press and the Foreign Press in New York. Her academic and professional development is incredibly articulated. She attended a British school from Nursery until High School, after which she graduated in Political Science and took a Masters in Screenwriting and Production. During these years of study, she also attended some summer courses, between New York and Los Angeles, at the “Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute,” co-founded by Harold Clurman, and Cheryl Crawford, along with Lee Strasberg’s Group Theatre. The “Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute” is the only school in the world that teaches both the cinematic and theatrical tradition in all its variations: directing, teaching, and is exceptionally pioneering in acting. Today the school celebrates over 45 years training actors and artists of the seventh art, in all its forms of entertainment, use of technological innovations and experiential acknowledgements that no other American school is capable of teaching to its pupils.
Today Chiara, besides being an Artist of international success, continues to cultivate her passions and channel them into her work, expressing her art in a variety of creative and intellectual perspectives as film critic, screenwriter, filmmaker, journalist, columnist for European and American online and print magazines, radios and television networks. Furthermore she is Professor at Milan’s I.E.D. University for the course in “Phenomenology of Contemporary Arts.”
As a visual artist, Chiara likes to define her paintings as “Material Puns” since the material she places on canvas is connected to the title of the artwork through wordplay. Her paintings have a magnetic charm that captivates those who are fond of experimental art and innovation, as she uses mixed media creating a unique work of art.
ANDREA GIOSTRA.