March 11, 2010 - New York, NY: Tria Gallery
presents Idols and Icons, featuring works by artists Michela Martello and
Tourya Othman through April 16, 2010. The
powerful canvases engage the viewer by harkening to universal archetypes,
producing messages that transcend religious, cultural, and linguistic barriers. Through the use of bold graphic elements and
text, Martello crafts spiritual images by removing the veneer of the body,
showing the metaphysical components. She
transmits her message by using mixed media and techniques such as collage and
embroidery. Othman's large oils are a
meditation on devotional imagery and an exploration of the divide between
spirit and body. She employs detailed
figures that at once are innocent and commanding, and unequivocally otherworldly.
Michela
Martello was born in Grosseto, Italy. She received her Bachelor of Arts in
illustration from the Europe Institute of Design. In the ensuing years she traveled
extensively, dividing her time between Milan, London and New York, and became a
prominent illustrator, publishing work in over thirty books. In 1996 she turned her focus to painting, and
by 1997 she had her first exhibition in both Milan and New York. The strong Asian influence in Ms. Martello's
painting is self-evident; she explains that Asian philosophies and spirituality
have had a profound impact on her work. In these paintings Martello explores iconic
worship as an extension of that spirituality.
Martello's work has been exhibited regularly over the past decade,
both in the U.S. and abroad,
and is held in both private and public collections worldwide.
Tourya Othman became fascinated by "santos" - saints - while
traveling in Cuba in 2001, and the Santos series was born. Her
unusual renderings of the glorification of worship and mystical adoration are
compelling reflections of how deep religious extension can be. In these paintings
Othman seems to capture the nature of spirituality and its borderless reach
across cultures. Her Faith series portrays nuns (albeit in a
non-traditional fashion) ay as a means of bringing to life the near loss of
faith and beliefs across cultures and understanding, and are similarly
compelling.
Othman
is a sculptor and painter. Shereceived her education at the Royal
Academy of Fine Arts, The Art Institute of Fine Arts, and The Academy of Beau
Art in Belgium. Her work has been shown in galleries
throughout the U.S., Morocco, Belgium, and England, and has been exhibited
at the Biennale in Florence and at Miami Basel.
