Italian Artists at ISCP Brooklyn: Tosatti, Fiorentino, Correale

The International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, hosts 35 studios and two exhibition spaces. In 2017, Italian artists Gian Maria Tosatti, Antonio Fiorentino, and Danilo Correale were selected for residencies in collaboration with the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. During open studios, they presented works in progress. Tosatti (Rome, 1980) explores racism through the little-known US history of Japanese American internment during WWII. His installation reconstructs an abandoned house where a former internee lived, using kintsugi (Japanese gold repair) to mend cracks as a metaphor for healing. Fiorentino (Barletta, 1987) investigates saturnism (lead poisoning) by extracting toxic lead paint from New York walls to create 'wall teas,' and sculpts marble with expanding worm-like forms mimicking lead's effect on the body. He cites historical cases from the Roman Empire to van Gogh, Caravaggio, and Beethoven. Correale (Naples, 1982), winner of the Premio New York (six-month free residency and monthly stipend from the Italian ministry), works on two projects. 'Reverie' uses hypnosis sessions with a New York hypnotherapist to explore post-work society, where visitors lie on a couch listening to recorded hypnosis on vinyl. The second project critiques data and infographics through paintings that juxtapose empirical and quantifiable aspects to create poetry.