GOLD & RUST A short film by Gael Towey
August 2019
Two New York based artists working in different materials, overlap in enchanting ways. Both Nancy Lorenz and Pamela Talese note history, material culture, and childhood memory as strong influences in their work, whether burnishing GOLD in the studio, or rendering RUST on location outside.
Produced and Directed by Gael Towey
Director of Photography: Joe Tomcho
Editor Marie Juranic
Music: Intriguing Prospect” Bob Bradley and Thomas Balmforth
Titles: Doyle Partners
Post Sound: Brian Flood
Post Color: Josh Kanuck
A Portraits in Creativity Short Film
All Rights Reserved 2019
PortraitsInCreativity.com
New York Arts
The distinguished old master dealer, Robert Simon, held his first exhibition of a contemporary artist this past November and December. Entitled The Third Rome : Allegorical Landscapes of the Modern City, it was devoted to the current work of Pamela Talese, a Brooklyn-based painter known for her haunting views of gritty industrial sites around the Navy Yard and Red Hook. Around 2012, she found that she had exhausted this subjects and everything else in New York City, and she decided to return to Rome for the first time in twenty-two years, applying for an artist’s fellowship at the American Academy and, once there, after exploring contemporary buildings, like Renzo Piano’s Parco della Musica, she began to explore more recent neighborhoods outside the historical center. By “more recent,” I mean areas developed in the 1920s and 1930s, that is, the Fascist Era.
Exploring the neighborhoods on her bicycle with her painting box and folding easel strapped on, Ms. Talese felt attracted to certain buildings that stood out for their clean, simple lines and elegant design. These were prime examples of Fascist architecture— modest, functional residential edifices, utilitarian civic structures, and a few public buildings. Virtually none of these appear in the surveys of Fascist architecture—with one notable exception, the Foro Italico (originally called the Foro Mussolini).