“Devo Farlo Per Le Mie Ossa”
Paintings and Interactive Sculpture by July featured artist Delfina Piretti
Art is necessity. But it can also be fun. These are the themes that stand out in Delfina Piretti’s artwork, exhibited for the month of July in the art lounge at City Center, with an open reception on Friday, July 12.
Mojave Series I
The show includes a range of materials from mixed-media oil paintings to an interactive sculpture. This body of work draws on time spent in the Mojave desert, dharma talks and her healing work as an expressive arts psychotherapist. Below is the artist’s description:
In Italian they have a saying: “Devo farlo per le mie ossa.“ The translation is: “I need to make it for my bones,” or “I need to do it for my strength.”
In my meditation practice I take refuge in the Buddha, dharma, sangha and (I confess) art. Art making is a place of refuge for me. I feel alive and at home when I am in the creative process. My work is more about the process than the content. The content is something I have little control over, like something I stumble upon.
Mojave Series II
I love the simple physical act of making marks, like painting on the cave wall. It is a journey where at best, the painting starts leading the painter. The process is edgy, often uncomfortable but somehow satisfying and like a dream that is affirming.
In the art lounge, in addition to the paintings, you will meet a life size sculpture: Nonna Sin Eater, a mythological figure who is half Italian grandmother, half dolphin. She invites the viewer to rid themselves of their sins by writing them on rice noodles and feeding them to her ( yes-putting them into her mouth!). To her it’s a gourmet food.
Sin eater is another word for a shaman, a wounded healer and someone who transmutes negative energies. This work explores the shadow aspects of the unconscious mind, our weaknesses and shortcomings. It provokes the viewer’s thoughts and emotions to the word “sin” in a playful way.
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Delfina Piretti is a visual artist and body/mind psychotherapist with a studio in San Francisco. She teaches expressive arts therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Piretti’s studio work incorporates painting, mixed media works, installation, live events and public art. Her art practice relates directly to her work as an expressive arts therapist, her interest in shamanism, Zen Buddhism and her Italian cultural roots. For more about her work, visit studio.delfinapiretti.com.
Meet the artist at an open reception on Friday, July 12, from 7 – 9 pm at City Center. The show is on view until July 31.
