MIDGE WATTLES
OFFERTORIO
a cura di/curate by Francesco Pantaleone
21.05.2015>20.06.2015
Offertorio is the title of the first exhibition of American artist Midge Wattles in Sicily. The show is composed of a selection of thirteen photographs divided between the project wall of Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea gallery and Bisso Bistrot.
The series Offertorio was made during a two month period of stay in Palermo, where Midge Wattles found a deep appreciation for the markets of Palermo. Heavily influenced by the painting traditions of Natura Morta, she began this series from goods collected from Ballarò. Rather than depict the market’s brilliant chaos of color and shape in the manner of Renato Guttuso’s painting La Vucciria(1974), Wattles aims to see inside the contents of the bag carried away by the woman he depicts there. Wattles brings light to these objects in their singularity, their form and flesh are returned to the viewer, reminiscent of the religious ritual of the offertorio. They become her own offerring to Palerrmo.
Monte Alburchia, the organic extra virgin olive oil of the Azienda Agricola Valentina Bruschi, supports the event.
Midge Wattles is an artist from New York, NY. Based on her interests in art history and the origins of images, her photography is a form of preservation, a material or object to understand a historical or personal lineage. Italian art history has played a pivotal role in her work since 2011, when she studied in Rome with the European Honors Program of the Rhode Island School of Design.