Artist Statement
I see the familiar and the known as leading us into the mysterious and the unknown, which is transformative. For instance , a picket fence is homey, but it expresses both barrier and entrance through its gate. If there is drapery, we are drawn to pass into its opening, into the dark empty space.
Literal physical objects are important to me. Even the physicality of the paint is important. The physicality of the paint mimics the physicality of the earth. Then the literal becomes symbolic and the symbolic becomes emotional. It has to reach the level of feeling.
In much of my work there is pathos and grief. They require the literalness of the image to make the feeling felt. Once the literalness of the image has been established, I can distance myself from it to some extent to learn what it means. Any painting is necessarily a self-portrait, expressing what the artist is going through at the time. The greater part is the viewers response, an interpretation which is already informed with a personal history.
'My work begins with the body, the tangible, the sensual.'
The body, however suggested, becomes the metaphor for transformative reality. The body becomes a landscape and the landscape becomes a ritualized space where emotions move. The outside becomes the inside; the framed, the boundless. Anchored to earth we are endless in our loitering explorations.
The seductive quality of the painting is reminiscent of dream space, a kind of spiritual déjà vu in its familiarity. It lures you into the depths of its successive spaces and then it devours you. Its like Krishna's mouth into which all beings are drawn. As in a sacrament, the humble and the mundane are transformed into the radiance of divinity.
Francesco Agresti
2005 - Present
Full time painter
2002- 2004
Guilford Technical Community College, Jamestown NC
Faculty Full Time Associate Professor of Art
Art History I and II, Art Appreciation, Design I and II, Drawing I and II
2001 - 2002
Winston Salem State University , W-S, NC
Instructor
Winston Salem Adjunct Faculty
Art History , Drawing I
1998 ~ 2001
N C A & T State University, Greensboro, NC
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art
Design I & II, Color Theory, Painting Materials and Techniques,
Basic Drawing and Composition
1994 ~ 1998
Guilford Technical Community College, Jamestown, NC
Instructor
Design I & II, Color Theory, Painting I & II, Drawing I,
Advanced Drawing, Art History I, Life Drawing Fashion
1989 ~ 1992
University of La Verne, Naples, Italy
Instructor
Oil Painting, Drawing, Technique & Materials, Watercolor,
Fundamentals of Design, Independent Studies at 200+ Levels,
Drawing & Painting Interdependency
1997 ~ 1998
Sawtooth Visual Arts Center (Evening Sessions)
Alternative Teaching: Acrylic & Oil Painting
1997~1998
Forsyth County Schools (Summer Art Honors Program)
Alternative Teaching: Abstract / Conceptual Drawing & Painting
Fall 1997
Forsyth Technical Community College
Alternative Teaching: Art Appreciation
Memberships:
• Exhibiting member, "Associated Artists of Winston-Salem"
• Co-chair Exhibiting Member Jury Committee 1997-1999
• Exhibiting Jury Committee 1999-2001
• Sarasota Associated Artists,Sarasota FL
• Venice Cultural Arts Center ,Venice FL
Workshops & Seminars:
CAROLINA ARTISTS GUILD WESTERN GUILD SEMINAR
Technique of Classical Painting: weekend painting workshop
"AN ARTIST APPROACH TO THE CREATIVE SEASON OF EASTER"
A series of four presentations at Saint Timothy's Church in Winston-Salem,NC.
Taught in conjunction with Dr. Beatrice Bruteau. PH.D.
"ART HISTORY FROM THE BYZANTINE TO THE CONTEMPORARY"
Fellowship of the Trinity, Winston-Salem, NC
Education:
City University of New York, New York, NY, H.H. Lehman College
• Master of Fine Art ~ 1977
• Bachelor of Fine Arts ~ 1972
Former Professional Representation:
1990 ~ 1991 Sterling Europea, Fondi Italy
1991 ~ 1993 Galleria Punto Arte , Fondi, Italy
1988 ~ 1993 Markel/Sears Fine Arts, Inc., Soho New York, NY
1986 ~ 1987 The Kathryn Markel Gallery , 57th& Madison Ave. New York, NY
Born in Itri, Italy, where I spent my childhood
before coming to the Bronx, New York,
where I received my education ,BFA , MFA and my first success.
So lucky, I am able to return to my roots and
the old world with all its charm, at least every year,once,
where I still keep a studio on the Via Appia.
As an artist I have had and have several showings and
representations in Italy, Germany, Russia and many
in the USA as well, including:
New York, Iowa, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia and Florida.
I was represented by several Galleries,
mostly in New York City, before moving back to Italy for some years,
to pursue my passion to paint , to teach at University(Napoli)
and to tend to my Olive Grove.
On returning to America in the early nineties,
I taught at Universities and Colleges in the Winston-Salem,
Greensboro N.C. area,
where I became a Professor in the visual arts,
before finding paradise in Venice ,Fl.
where I now reside, create and paint.
I see the familiar and the known as leading us into the mysterious and the unknown, which is transformative. For instance , a picket fence is homey, but it expresses both barrier and entrance through its gate. If there is drapery, we are drawn to pass into its opening, into the dark empty space.
Literal physical objects are important to me. Even the physicality of the paint is important. The physicality of the paint mimics the physicality of the earth. Then the literal becomes symbolic and the symbolic becomes emotional. It has to reach the level of feeling.
In much of my work there is pathos and grief. They require the literalness of the image to make the feeling felt. Once the literalness of the image has been established, I can distance myself from it to some extent to learn what it means. Any painting is necessarily a self-portrait, expressing what the artist is going through at the time. The greater part is the viewers response, an interpretation which is already informed with a personal history.
'My work begins with the body, the tangible, the sensual.'
The body, however suggested, becomes the metaphor for transformative reality. The body becomes a landscape and the landscape becomes a ritualized space where emotions move. The outside becomes the inside; the framed, the boundless. Anchored to earth we are endless in our loitering explorations.
The seductive quality of the painting is reminiscent of dream space, a kind of spiritual déjà vu in its familiarity. It lures you into the depths of its successive spaces and then it devours you. Its like Krishna's mouth into which all beings are drawn. As in a sacrament, the humble and the mundane are transformed into the radiance of divinity.
Francesco Agresti
2005 - Present
Full time painter
2002- 2004
Guilford Technical Community College, Jamestown NC
Faculty Full Time Associate Professor of Art
Art History I and II, Art Appreciation, Design I and II, Drawing I and II
2001 - 2002
Winston Salem State University , W-S, NC
Instructor
Winston Salem Adjunct Faculty
Art History , Drawing I
1998 ~ 2001
N C A & T State University, Greensboro, NC
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art
Design I & II, Color Theory, Painting Materials and Techniques,
Basic Drawing and Composition
1994 ~ 1998
Guilford Technical Community College, Jamestown, NC
Instructor
Design I & II, Color Theory, Painting I & II, Drawing I,
Advanced Drawing, Art History I, Life Drawing Fashion
1989 ~ 1992
University of La Verne, Naples, Italy
Instructor
Oil Painting, Drawing, Technique & Materials, Watercolor,
Fundamentals of Design, Independent Studies at 200+ Levels,
Drawing & Painting Interdependency
1997 ~ 1998
Sawtooth Visual Arts Center (Evening Sessions)
Alternative Teaching: Acrylic & Oil Painting
1997~1998
Forsyth County Schools (Summer Art Honors Program)
Alternative Teaching: Abstract / Conceptual Drawing & Painting
Fall 1997
Forsyth Technical Community College
Alternative Teaching: Art Appreciation
Memberships:
• Exhibiting member, "Associated Artists of Winston-Salem"
• Co-chair Exhibiting Member Jury Committee 1997-1999
• Exhibiting Jury Committee 1999-2001
• Sarasota Associated Artists,Sarasota FL
• Venice Cultural Arts Center ,Venice FL
Workshops & Seminars:
CAROLINA ARTISTS GUILD WESTERN GUILD SEMINAR
Technique of Classical Painting: weekend painting workshop
"AN ARTIST APPROACH TO THE CREATIVE SEASON OF EASTER"
A series of four presentations at Saint Timothy's Church in Winston-Salem,NC.
Taught in conjunction with Dr. Beatrice Bruteau. PH.D.
"ART HISTORY FROM THE BYZANTINE TO THE CONTEMPORARY"
Fellowship of the Trinity, Winston-Salem, NC
Education:
City University of New York, New York, NY, H.H. Lehman College
• Master of Fine Art ~ 1977
• Bachelor of Fine Arts ~ 1972
Former Professional Representation:
1990 ~ 1991 Sterling Europea, Fondi Italy
1991 ~ 1993 Galleria Punto Arte , Fondi, Italy
1988 ~ 1993 Markel/Sears Fine Arts, Inc., Soho New York, NY
1986 ~ 1987 The Kathryn Markel Gallery , 57th& Madison Ave. New York, NY
Born in Itri, Italy, where I spent my childhood
before coming to the Bronx, New York,
where I received my education ,BFA , MFA and my first success.
So lucky, I am able to return to my roots and
the old world with all its charm, at least every year,once,
where I still keep a studio on the Via Appia.
As an artist I have had and have several showings and
representations in Italy, Germany, Russia and many
in the USA as well, including:
New York, Iowa, North Carolina, Maryland, Georgia and Florida.
I was represented by several Galleries,
mostly in New York City, before moving back to Italy for some years,
to pursue my passion to paint , to teach at University(Napoli)
and to tend to my Olive Grove.
On returning to America in the early nineties,
I taught at Universities and Colleges in the Winston-Salem,
Greensboro N.C. area,
where I became a Professor in the visual arts,
before finding paradise in Venice ,Fl.
where I now reside, create and paint.
