Abstraction, Expressionism, and Beyond: Group show featuring Percy Fortini-Wright, Giovanni DeCunto, and Tim Gianelli

8 December 2022 - 17 February 2023
Works
Overview

"Abstraction, Expressionism, and Beyond", is a group exhibition showcasing three Boston based artists who are all returning to Pellas Gallery for their second group show. Giovanni DeCunto, Percy Fortini-Wright, and Tim Gianelli are three artists that create work sharing many abstract and expressive qualities. This exhibition will be displayed from December 8, 2022 through to February  5, 2023. 

 

All three artists implement influences from their upbringings in the boroughs of Boston and their times traveling and studying art around the world. When closely studied and exhibited in collaboration, the artists’ individual connections to Boston and their influences beyond the city shine through. Through different stylistic approaches and modernist modes like graffiti art, abstract expressionism, and pop art, they are able to express their individual intricacies and ideas.

 

Giovanni DeCunto is an American artist who is changing the course of modern art by developing an innovative method of painting that leads his works to glow in the daylight. This show will feature a new work that truly merges technology with fine art. Heavily influenced by both the Baroque and contemporary art, DeCunto’s work bridges the gap between the old and new world styles of art. The contemporary issues confronted in DeCunto’s work provoke a response, both emotional and intellectual, and symbolize the struggles our society now faces. His work looks to the future and towards what he feels humanity is moving towards. His work consists of abstract and representational forms made with acrylic paint – often poetic and gracefully formed and boldly colored – that hang in an uncanny, perfect balance between abstraction and figuration. DeCunto is a major force in the Boston Art scene having shown at the Museum of Fine Arts and other institutions.

 

Percy Fortini-Wright is acclaimed for his work in a variety of media that stylistically tends to inhabit the space between abstraction expressionism and graffiti art. To create these new works, Percy vigorously applies a combination of spray and oil paints in loose and rhythmic motion. In doing so, he gradually builds up a surface, creating an asymmetrical composition depicting an infinite network of lines and forms. Throughout his process, he dynamically engages with his canvases seeking to find the balance between chaos and order. This approach results in abstract, radial works of art that evoke the forces of a greater energy. To the artist, graffiti art is nothing more than the development of the most basic lineages of human expression, like cave painting, and is one of the only art forms that do not emphasize the content the word; instead, the proportions and movements of text through space are what Percy seeks to demonstrate in his paintings. Akin to Pollock, who allowed fluid paint to capture his motion and actions, Percy’s expression is captured through graffiti-like motifs and gesture.

 

Tim Gianelli has become most recognized for his abstracted works, vibrant in color and often large in scale, that playfully experiment with various media and concepts. The artist intends to unlock the viewer’s emotions and fondest memories and now refers to his process as a visual language, rendered from his own personal memories and perceptions of life. While remaining subject-less, Gianelli prefers to flood his canvases with an array of color, paint, and forms, that encourage the viewer to interact and conduct their own analysis of his abstract compositions.