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Marco Massimo Sassone was born in Italy in 1942 and studied painting in Florence in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.Between 1959 and 1961 Sassone studied architectural drafting at the Istituto Galileo Galilei, and then studied painting under Silvio Loffredo at the Accademia from 1963.In 1967, Sassone moved to California and one year later set up his first studio in Long Beach.He began exhibiting in 1967.He has since been the focus of various documentaries, books, and catalogues.In his recent body of work, Sassone takes a new and passionate look at some of the landscapes and cities from his homeland of Italy: Venice, Florence, and the Amalfi Coast.He has returned to these places, at least in his canvases, after years spent in Luguna Beach on the brilliant Southern California coast and on the streets - quite literally - of San Francisco, where he devoted himself to the study and painting of the homeless.These new paintings have a presence of absolute and compelling authenticity which speaks at once to Sassone’s maturity as a painter and the felicitous choice of subject matter deeply rooted in his consciousness. The scale alone makes it clear that these are studio, not plein air paintings.Studio work is a more internal process.When Sassone returns from his trips back home with sketches and snapshots to which he readily refers as he works, it is inside himself that he works to find the paintings. There is a new dominance of intense blues and greens in these pieces.At the same time, the representation of forms has become less substantial: architecture is insistently deconstructed by the artist’s brush strokes into flow rather than form, becoming indistinguishable from the water.The affect of the paintings is a complex of emotions: if we find in them the joy of coming home and the ecstasy of creation, we also find, if we attune ourselves with clear attention, the rage of anger and the shiver of fear which artists bring to their work when they are in touch with the fullness of their humanity. Excerpts from “Marco Sassone: A Way Back Home” by Peter Clothier |
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Education 1959-62 Istituto Galileo Galilei, Florence 1962-63 Studied with Silvio Loffredo, Academy of Fine Arts, Florence Lives and works in San Francisco and Toronto Selected Solo Exhibitions 2004 Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada 2003 Cloister of St. Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy 2002 Miniaci Art Gallery, Venice, Italy Miniaci Art Gallery, Milan, Italy Palazzo Ducale, Massa, Italy 2001 Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, San Francisco Isetan Gallery, Tokyo Museo Italo-Americano, San Francisco 2000 MB Modern, New York Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1999 Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco 1998 Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, San Francisco 1997 Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California Galleria d’Arte Mentana, Florence, Italy Cloisters of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy 1996 Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California Pasquale Iannetti Gallery, San Francisco 1995 Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California 1994 Museo Italo-Americano, San Francisco Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California 1993 Pasquale Iannetti Galleries, San Francisco 1992 Bernard Galleries, Walnut Creek, California 1991 Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco 1990 Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California Buschlen-Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada 1989 Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California 1988 Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles Bernheim-Jeune Gallery, Paris, France Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California Bernard Galleries, Walnut Creek, California 1987 Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California Gallery at Nichols Hills, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1985 Bernard Galleries, Walnut Creek, California Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California 1984 La Galeria, San Francisco 1983 Gallery at Nichols Hills, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 1982 Wally Findlay Galleries, Beverly Hills, California 1979 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California Wally Findlay Galleries, New York 1978 Wally Findlay Galleries, Chicago Wally Findlay Galleries, Beverly Hills, California 1977 Wally Findlay Galleries, Beverly Hills, California 1976 Bernard Galleries, Walnut Creek, California 1975 Haggenmaker Galleries, Beverly Hills, California 1973 Galleria D'Arte Internazionale, Florence, Italy Design Gallery, Newport Beach, California 1970 Town and Country Gallery, Orange, California Selected Group Exhibitions 2002 Facing the City, DNFA Gallery, Pasadena, California 2001 Toronto International Art Fair, Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada The Pool Show, DNFA Gallery, Pasadena, California 2000 Toronto International Art Fair, Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, Canada 1998 Watercolor USA, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri 1997 Sydne Bernard Fine Arts, Los Angeles 1996 Wolf Kahn, H. Joe Waldrum, Marco Sassone, Dennis Hare - Personal Landscapes 4 Painters Reflect, Diane Nelson Fine Art, Laguna Beach, California 1993 Body Politic, San Francisco Art Commission Gallery 1992 Issue of Choice, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) + 12, Pasquale Iannetti Galleries, San Francisco 1991 Venezia; Riflessi Passati e Presenti - Venetian Reflections Past and Present: Painter Marco Sassone's Modern Day Venice; the Eighteenth Century Venice of Antonio Visentini, Engraver, Museo Italo Americano, San Francisco The sixth International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles (ART LA), Diane Nelson Gallery, Laguna Beach, California California Perspective, Modern Museum of Art, Santa Ana, California 1990 Chicago International Art Exposition, Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany Basel Art Fair, Pasquale Iannetti Galleries, San Francisco MIX, Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles 1989 The Fourth International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles (ART LA), Raab Galerie, Berlin, Germany 1977 National Academy of Design, New York 1974 Maxwell Galleries, Ltd., San Francisco 1973 National Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand 1972 Watercolor USA, Springfield Art Museum, Springfield, Missouri 1970 Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California 1969 Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles 1968 Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles 1967 Perche' Non Si Dimentichi, Galleria Lo Sprone, Florence, Italy Awards and Prizes 1994 Proclamation Marco Sassone Day in San Francisco, March 30, from Frank M. Jordan, Mayor of San Francisco. 1987 Commendation of the City of Los Angeles from Mayor Tom Bradley for twenty years of painting in California. 1982 Decoration and title of Official Knight of the Order to the Merit of the Italian Republic, from Sandro Pertini, President of Italy. 1978 Gold medal from the Italian Academy of Arts, Literature and Science, Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy. |
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