I set up two easels facing each other. White painting overalls, 8"x10" canvases and black and white paint are provided. I paint a portrait of the participant while the participant paints a portrait of me. At the end we exchange them. As of now I have about 90 portraits of my self.
These works are a light hearted exploration of the figure, color and composition. I reference the art historical theme of the bathers highlighting its erotic tones. These paintings hover between figuration and abstraction, and between a flat and a three dimensional space
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on panel; 2016
61cm x 91cm; acrylic on paper; 2016
61cm x 91cm; acrylic on paper; 2016
In these paintings I am currently exploring the edge between representation and abstraction through experiments with composition, color and pattern. These works are process-driven. During the process I enter into an intimate dialogue with the painting: at times I guide the painting; at other times the painting guides me. Through this dialogue I “carve” out forms. I intentionally leave these forms ambiguous, slippery, constantly receding from becoming something specific.
100cm x 140cm; acrylic, pastel, and colored pencil on paper; 2015
92cm x 160cm; acrylic and oil on wood panel; 2015
93cm x 113cm; oil, acrylic and pastel on wood panel; 2015
100cm x 140cm; acrylic, pastel, and colored pencil on paper; 2015
93cm x 137cm; oil, acrylic, pastel and charcoal on paper; 2015
147cm x 215cm; oil, acrylic, charcoal and graphite on paper; 2015
152cm x 213cm; acrylic on canvas; 2015
121cm x 150cm; acrylic and oil on paper; 2015
121cm x 150cm; acrylic, graphite and watercolor on paper; 2015
121cm x 150cm; acrylic and oil on paper; 2015
93cm x 113cm; oil and acrylic on wood panel; 2015
220cm x 170cm; acrylic on paper; 2015
152cm x 92cm; oil on canvas; 2006
152cm x 92cm; oil on canvas; 2004-2005
152cm x 85cm; oil on canvas; 2006
28cm x 22cm; graphite on paper; 2010
28cm x 22cm; graphite on paper; 2010
22cm x 22cm; charcoal on paper; 2010
Although I took a formal approach, the RGMBW series is first and foremost an emotional response to moving to New York. It is almost a romantic group of works. Shortly after moving, I got a day job as a software trainer in midtown Manhattan. I had to commute everyday to Grand Central Station, and it was the mass movements of individuals, the flows of people that really inspired the first RGBMW paintings. I used all-over, grid-based patterns opting for a very strict five color scheme that I lifted from a photo in a fashion magazine. I kept the works very neat and task-oriented as a stabilizing, almost spiritual approach. I tried to make them as close to computer-made as I could, in part as a reflection of my observation of the relationship between humans and computers. In this attempt to be computer-like, the most interesting thing is the tension between the perfection/imperfection of the human hand.
122cm x 122cm; acrylic gouache on canvas; 2012
152cm x 152cm; acrylic gouache on canvas; 2012
28cm x 35,5cm; oil on panel; 2012
91,5cm x 95,5cm; acrylic gouache on panel; 2011
152cm x 152cm; acrylic gouache on canvas; 2011
122cm x 122cm; acrylic gouache on canvas; 2012
30,5cm x 30,5cm; acrylic gouache on panel; 2012
This participatory installation was created with a series of sculptural works aesthetically influenced by Arte Povera, minimalist sculpture and Eva Hesse, but made with foods created through a process of "cultural" fermentation. I made goat cheese, fermented ginger beer, and wild sourdough yest bread and offered it to the public.
dimension variable; homemade goat cheese, cheese cloth, string, metal bowl; 2009
Homemade wild yeast sourdough bread, knife, cutting board, salt, pepper, cutlery
Home made fermented ginger beer (ginger, honey, lemon, water, yeast), bottles, glasses, stand
Courageous participants/testers eating my goat cheese
Participants enjoing some of my ginger beer
participants eating bread (in this event it was focaccia bread)
I created this work in collaboration with my father. I painted an idea of his while he painted an idea of mine. My father had never painted before. We recorded the process on a video and presented our preliminary studies along with wall text and the final paintings.
183cm x 153cm each; acrylic on cotton tarp; 2009
Still from the Te/Ars video
Still from the Te/Ars video
Vinyl wall text
inspirational material of Te/Ars - my "0" poetry book on the left and my father's "Puntini Puntini" sketches on the right
Installation shot
Installation shot including one of the paintings from my "O" series
These works are the outcome of my learning experience with the methodologies and meanings of Thangka painting in Kathmandu, Nepal. To produce them I formed Piero Passacantando Studio with professional Thangka painters Sherab Tamang, Dawa Tamang of Dharmadhatu Foundation (an NGO devoted to using the arts and crafts as a tool for social justice in Nepal) and my wife Clarissa Bynum. These works are not a direct translation of Thangka, but rather a reinterpretation of some of its elements, particularly geometry and color.
43cm x 94cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
81cm x 53cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
53cm x 53cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
89cm x 109cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
53cm x 53cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
96,5cm x 96,5cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
53cm x 53cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
53cm x 53cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
25,5cm x 25,5cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
New Geometric Commons of Imagination installed at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal
New Geometric Commons of Imagination installed at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal
I initially painted these small works in a 12cm x 12cm book as a series of preparatory sketches for my Geometric Commons of Imagination project. However as I progressed, they started to make sense as their own separate mini series.
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
12cm x 12cm; gouache on paper; 2010
Throughout the years I have been making hundreds of paintings and drawings of the human face in many different styles, some based on real people some completely imaginary. This is a small selection
61cm x 51cm; acrylic on paper; 2003
7,5cm x 7,5cm; watercolor on paper; 2012
22cm x 28cm; graphite on paper; 2010
12cm x 17cm; gouache on paper; 2012
12cm x 17cm; gouache on paper; 2012
30,5cm x 30,5cm; acrylic gouache on panel; 2012
7,5cm x 7,5cm; acrylic gouache on paper; 2012
15cm x 20cm; acrylic on paper; 2010
25cm x 25cm; acrylic on muslin cotton; 2010
30,5cm x 30,5cm; watercolor on paper; 2008
,5cm x 30,5cm; watercolor on paper; 2008
12cm x 17cm; watercolor on paper; 2008
22cm x 28cm; oil on paper; 2010
22cm x 28cm; watercolor and gouache on paper 2009
25cm x 25cm; watercolor and gouache on paper; 2009
10cm x12cm; watercolor and gouache on paper; 2008
30,5cm x 30,5cm; watercolor on paper; 2012
61cm x 51cm; watercolor on paper; 2006
61cm x 51cm; ink on paper; 2003
I was invited to participate to a group show dealing with the conspiracy theory of chemtrail and HAARP. I took a skeptical, ironic but also embracing approach, researching possible remedies to the purported effects of these phenomenons. I identified the Faraday cage, the hat with tin foil and colloidal silver as some of the most effective cures. Why not use these remedies in style? I created a mini lounge/cage and provided Silveritas, margaritas with colloidal silver.
Paintings with my wife Clarissa in various styles.
91cm x 91cm; oil on panel; 2009
244cm x 122cm; oil on panel; 2004-2006
15cm x 20cm; acrylic on paper; 2010
Works made on commission for various clients
