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Provincetown Artists
Spring 2003
Rooted in the history to flourish in the diversity... six Provincetown artists showcased: Salvatore Del Deo, Robert Henry, Richard Pepitone, Romanos Risk, Selina Trieff, and Peter Watts.
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Salvatore Del Deo
Born in 1928 in Providence, Rhode Island, Salvatore Del Deo began formal art training in 1945. This process included studies with Henry Hensche at the Cape Cod School of Art and with John McPherson and Edwin Dickenson at the Art Students' League. While studying in New York, he worked at the studio of Onorio Ruotolo at 1 Union Square. After military service, in the winter months of 1953, he traveled and painted in the Southwest and Mexico. There he met muralist Diego Rivera who urged him to pursue the art of fresco painting.
As contributor, vice-president and later, trustee, Del Deo has had a long involvement with the Provincetown Art Association. Over the years, he has taken on numerous other leadership roles including founding member of the Fine Art Work Center board of directors, founding member of Provincetown Heritage Museum board of trustees and founding member and president of the Provincetown Group Gallery. He has also taught extensively.
Del Deo's works are in the collections of Harvard University, Smith College, and the national Museum of American Art, and the Smithsonian.
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LEOPARD SPOTTED SKY
Oil On Canvas, 16x30"
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Robert Henry
"I first came to Provincetown in 1952 to study with Hans Hofmann. Hofmann became my second father and Provincetown my second hometown. Provincetown' is an extraordinary combination of things. It is full of contradictions. It has an uncommon ability to focus on contradictions. It fits my temperament, my beliefs and my art.
It is a fishing village at land's end that is as cosmopolitan as a large city. It has one of the most beautiful harbors imaginable and a downtown whose honky-tonk is equally fantastic.
It has a tradition of drawing diverse people and accommodating their differences in a not always easy interaction. People here know each other, care about each other and care for each other with equal intensity.
I aspire to an art that equals the intensity, that exhibits the diversity, that accommodates both the contrarian and contradictory nature of the town."
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ON THE DECK
Oil On Canvas, 18x24"
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Richard Pepitone
While currently recognized as a sculptor, Richard Pepitone has experimented with various styles and media throughout his life. He has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Colgate University, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum School. Galleries in California, New York, and Massachusetts represent his work.
In Provincetown he is known for his "Oar Series" along with other projects. When the artist settled in Provincetown thirty years ago, he was searching for a way to make "contemporary abstract art." Finding oars washed up on the beach, Pepitone was inspired to give them a voice through his art. "As I worked with the old oars, and revived the original finish buried under the weathered patina, I felt the souls of the fishermen lost at sea. I found myself drawing upon the spirit of primitive totems and shields." Two works from this series are presented in this show.
Ceramic raku tiles from a series entitled "Des Somnanbules" are also included, as well as oil paintings and monoprints.
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AQUATIC SERIES #2
Oil Monoprint and Fingerwork, 18x24"
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Romanos Rizk
Born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1927, Romanos Rizk came to Provincetown in 1949 to study with Henry Hensche. While early training focused on the legacies of Charles Hawthorne and Hensche, the artist also took in principles of abstract art. By 1955 he was developing a unique style of abstract art which was influenced by an unfolding interest in Zen and Taoism. Rizk's ongoing study and practice of these philosophies was to become a life-long component of his approach to art and the creative process. His distinguished career is punctuated by array of changes -- from gold-leaf embellished abstract works inspired by his study of Asian calligraphy, to collages created from his torn fragments of his paintings on paper, to richly realistic still life paintings embedded with cultural comment, to dancers painted in classical manner, (as Rizk would say, "and so on.")
Most recently, he has produced a series entitled "Lily Ponds" in which his early roots in impressionism merge with ever-present Asian influences.
The key to Romanos Rizk's success is that he applies a high degree of technical skill and virtuosity to the condition of ³Beginner's Mind.²
"As the search to understand myself and the realities of life changed and developed, my painting followed. Interest in the workings of the mind led me to conclude that developing the art meant developing the man."
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LILY POND #85
Oil On Canvas, 24x40"
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Selina Trieff
"I first came to Provincetown for the summer of 1955. I had been there before for short periods, but in '55 I went to study with Hans Hofmann. The school became an awakening for me. Provincetown has always been like a magnet. It is an artist's place. It is a place for searching people, of artists, writers and actors.
As time passed we again returned to the Cape and Provincetown, knowing that this was the place in which we needed to be. It is a place of creativity which nourishes uniqueness. It is a magical place. It has changed over the years but the essence remains the same."
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TWO FIGURES
Oil On Canvas, 26x26"
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Peter Watts
"Abstract Expressionism had a great influence on me. As a student in the fifties and living in New York in the sixties, I was influenced by the works of the time. When I moved to the Cape in 1970 I became more involved with nature. I have been working from it ever since. I've been asked why my paintings are always of unpopulated landscapes. I don't really know the answer except to say I walk every day in solitude and this comes through in the work. I have a long standing interest in the history of this place, and living in the National Seashore helps me see the land in its unspoiled form. I often try to imagine what it looked like 100, 300, or 600 years ago. I guess I am searching for the Garden of Eden which brings me to Paradise Valley where I live and paint."
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THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND
Oil On Canvas, 24x26"
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