| PRESS
RELEASE
SEPTEMBER 20, 2001—OCTOBER
12, 2001
GERRY VICHI
Paint
and Powder //
Reflections of a Broadway actor
OPENING
RECEPTION:
Thursday, September 20, 2001, 6-8PM
NEW
YORK (August 28, 2001) – Another
facet of the artistry of Broadway actor Gerry
Vichi, currently appearing as Pawnee Bill and
Foster Wilson in the hit revival of ANNIE GET
YOUR GUN, is the focus of a new exhibition entitled
“Paint and Powder/Reflections of a Broadway
Actor”, opening September 20 at Gallery@49.
Vichi’s first New York solo show will
feature acrylic and mixed media paintings and
drawings created over the past 2 years backstage,
inside the actor’s dressing room at the
Marquis Theater. A percentage of the sales proceeds
will benefit “The Actors’ Fund of
America”.
Recognized
for his performances in other Broadway productions
such as “How to Succeed in Business Without
Really Trying”, “Woman of the Year”,
and “Anything Goes”, Vichi has also
been painting and drawing since his student
years at St. John’s University, when he
became the art editor for the campus’
literary and arts magazine. “This experience
piqued my interest in art”, says Vichi.
“I marveled at the works of Klee, Kandinski,
and others as a way of seeing reality in a different
way. The drawings I made for the magazine were
almost totally intuitive. I still don’t
know what I’m going to draw or paint when
I begin. One line leads to another; one color
to another.”
Soon
after starting his roles in Annie Get your Gun
in 1999, Vichi began reorganizing the
space of his dressing room and quickly assembled
a small studio stuffed with tubes of paint,
easels and brushes, a first step to what was
to become one of the most prolific seasons of
his artistic pursuit. He feverishly exploited
each and every moment spent at the theater,
painting before and during the show, between
scenes and at intermissions. Persuaded by his
fellow actors, constantly hinting, half-jokingly,
half-hopefully, for their portraits to be painted,
Vichi gradually turned his gaze towards his
colleagues. Always present, chatting and lingering
as he was painting backstage, actors, dancers,
wardrobe mistresses, musicians, conductors,
and child wranglers, soon became the subject
of Vichi’s work. What emerged is a collection
of both
blunt and candid, vigorously outlined cartoon-like
portraits, all rendered with good cheer and
generosity. ” I love people’s faces.
Painting them energizes me”.
In
addition to portraiture, Vichi has never ceased
expanding his passion for pen and ink. Inside
the dressing room hundreds of jazzy black and
white or colorful drawings combining the free
gesture of Expressionism
with the humor of Graffiti art fill the walls
and pages of sketchbooks. With an all over,
hieroglyphic
mix of symbols, patterns and figures often recalling
the art of Klee, Haring and Twombly, Vichi’s
drawings
clearly materialize his prodigious capacity
for graphic and painterly invention. “I
like the idea of
movement, change, mood shifting”, says
Vichi with a smile, “I love the surprise
of what happens.”
“Paint and Powder / Reflections
of a Broadway Actor” will open with a
public reception on Thursday, September 20th
and will run through October 12th 2001. For
further information or visual material please
contact Monica Andreea at 212.767.0855
 |
click
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