Best of Activism in Art: II

By Sarah S. Vati

Activism in Art is a group on the website for art collectors and artists FAA, and also a rather fertile topic, especially now that the economic crisis leads artists (and people in general) to review their beliefs, their principles, their role in society, and, in brief, what really matters in life.
This book is part of a special issue featuring art and photographs by the members of the Activism in Art group, and pieces with activism as the key topic. This is the second book of a series, in which we hope to feature some of the best contributions to this group.
Each of the books in this series is divided into two sections: the first section (About the Artists) presents each artist with a biographical sketch, while the second section is a showcase of their work. By clicking on the name of the artist, it is possible to go directly to their artwork. A small index of contents is also available, in order to more easily use this ebook.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sarah S. Vati
• Release date: Dec 11, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310058271

Sarah S. Vati

I'm a writer, an artist and curator.

Book preview

Kenneth Agnello

Website: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/kennethagnello.html

Take a deep breath, I thought. You can say it. You can do it, and avoid following bandwagons. They are not what you are after. The cutting edge, to speak about people, about relationships, and to comment on all we witness—fears, shame, joys, and suspicions—this is your motive.

So the evolutionary cell in my thought process was planted at an early age: to demonstrate a seriousness of presence and passion, to carry out an art that focuses on art for people’s sake, rather than an art for art’s sake. This is a credo hungry for the narrative, the thematic, and the real within the real, expressed exclusively in oil paintings and pencil-pastel drawings. Sometimes the real is twisted, turned inside out or upside down, but is never dismissed; I have never created a fully non-objective abstract work. Colors vary in intensity and application, ranging in value or schemes. Broad passages of open color, applied much like a primer, are the first backdrop, the foundation on which images emerge, off which the scene unfolds. Paint is often applied thickly, slashed about with thick brush or knife. Then, too, thinned paint is applied through more fluid arrangements, or is allowed to drip spontaneously, creating rainbow or rain-washed