Sassone

About the Artwork...

2011-09-29T09:58:00.001-07:00

Man with Blue Eyes, 2000, pastel on paper, 30 x 22 inches

I met this homeless man on the streets on San Francisco and painted his portrait in a series of works titled "The Man with Blue Eyes". He did not remember his own name. My involvement with the homeless continued for four long years. The exhibition "Home on the Streets" opened at the Museo Itao-Americano in San Francisco with a catalogue illustrating all the paintings and drawings selected by the curator. The show was televised on ABC TV and "Home on the Streets" traveled to Los Angeles and Florence, Italy. As the result of this, I became known as "the painter of the homeless". Throughout the years, I often wondered what became of the man with the piercing blue eyes. This story has a happy ending. Recently, the subject of this work was recognized by a person working with the homeless in Los Angeles. She told us that John had been rehabilitated and was no longer living on the streets.

Join us in asking the US Postal Service to turn the man with Blue Eyes into a postal stamp! http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?d=28108086#!/USPSStamps/posts/200490153352719.

New Work

2011-09-20T10:38:00.001-07:00

Underpass, 2011 watercolor on paper, 22 x 30.5 inches.

Tragedy in Tucson by Marco Sassone

2011-01-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Exhibition Pictures

2011-01-18T10:13:00.001-08:00

Marco Sassone: Santuario

Oct 1-31 2010

Works on display at the Porziuncola Nuova, San Fransico

Elena Iannetti, Pasquale Iannetti, Emilia Sassone

Marco Sassone

Marco Sassone, Lorenzo Petroni

Artist Interview

2010-10-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

The artist was interviewed at the inauguration of his show Marco Sassone:Santuario. Click here to check it out! (Italian language only)

More works in the exhibition...

Malinconia, 1999 oil on canvas, 50 x 62 inches

City Pigs, 1991 oil on canvas, 65 x 86 inches

Broadway East View, 1990 oil on canvas 40 x 50 inches

Dolland, 1992 oil on canvas, 40 x 62 inches

Italian Press Coverage of Marco Sassone: Santuario

2010-10-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

Prima mostra di Marco Sassone a Roma, nella sede del Palazzo dell’InformazioneGuarda le immagini

Prenderà avvio da martedì 12 ottobre, alle ore 18 presso la location del Palazzo dell'Informazione a Piazza Mastai, nella Capitale, la prima mostra a Roma di Marco Sassone con il suggestivo titolo di "Santuario-The Urban Landscape" inaugurata e promossa con la realizzazione e l'attenzione di Carlo Giuseppe Eletti; si tratta di un percorso sconvolgente ed insieme sinestetico che attraversa le diverse "visioni" proprie dell'artista originario della regione Toscana.

Marco Sassone, insignito nell'anno 1982 con il titolo di Cavaliere Ufficiale all'Ordine del Merito della Repubblica Italiana, rappresenta uno dei nomi più importanti ed insieme prestigiosi ed oltretutto eccentrici all'interno del panorama dell'arte contemporanea internazionale; Sassone, nomade per vocazione interiore, è stato abituato ed uso fin dalla giovinezza ad esperire e venire a contatto con la realtà tramite le diverse strade del mondo e grazie anche allo sguardo di mendicanti e derelitti, traendo dai loro volti e dalle storie da loro raccontate una gran parte dell'incredibile e straordinario materiale trasferito nelle sue opere.

Sassone dipinge e crea le sue opere adoperando una forte e pregnante,incontenibile verve espressionista ritraendo paesaggi urbani sia fisici che mentali, ipnotici ed al tempo stesso conturbanti nei quali il punto di fuga trascina e cattura l'attenzione dell'osservatore portandolo in un'altra dimensione; a volte invece dipinge forme di vita decaduta, a tratti dissolta all'interno di un ambiente deformante della società che dimentica, lascia nell'oblio per poi scomporre l'umanità. Osservando con attenzione le pennellate rapide e veloci di Sassone si è in grado di notare e scorgere i tipici tratti nervosi tanto cari ai Divisionisti o anche un uso del colore proprio dei Macchiaioli. Koan Jeff Baysa, parlando dell'artista, ha inoltre spiegato come per Sassone dipingere sia una via, un modo per scandagliare e analizzare a fondo la propria psiche al fine di estrarre ricordi determinati e precisi che poi trasmette sulla tela e sulla carta con il suo personale stile telegrafico, dando così vita ad un santuario impenetrabile ed inviolabile per se stesso oltre che per i suoi soggetti.

-Rossella Lalli.

http://www.newnotizie.it/2010/10/07/prima-mostra-di-marco-sassone-a-roma-nella-sede-del-palazzo-dellinformazione/

Marco Sassone: Santuario

2010-09-28T11:00:00.000-07:00

MARCO SASSONE: Santuario

Urban Landscapes

Artist's reception October 12, 2010 6:00 pm

Palazzo Dell'Informazione

Piazza Mastai, 9

00153 Roma

Marco Sasssone: Santuario

2010-09-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

MARCO SASSONE: Santuario

presented by the Knights of Saint Francis

Luogo di Santa Chiara

Porziuncola Nuova, National Shrine of Saint Francis

October 1 - 31, 2010

For more information: http://www.knightsofsaintfrancis.com/

MARCO SASSONE: SantuarioOctober 1-31, 2010 SAN FRANCISCO – The Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi is pleased to announce the return of Marco Sassone to San Francisco for the exhibition Santuario, October 1 – 31, 2010 with an opening reception Friday, October 1 from 6-8 pm at the Porziuncola Nuova next to the National Shrine of Saint Francis (Vallejo @ Columbus Streets).

The exhibition presents a synesthetic journey through the visions of the artist who hails from Tuscany and who lived in San Francisco for over 25 years. Knighted in 1982 into The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, Sassone, from his earliest youth, has made an experience of reality on the streets of the world, through the gazes of the homeless, extracting from their faces and stories a large part of the extraordinary material for his artworks. He paints urban landscapes that are altogether physical and mental, where the vanishing point visually pulls the viewer into another dimension; or draws forms of life in decay, almost dissolved in the surroundings of a society that forgets and decomposes humanity. “These paintings are a way for Sassone to plumb his psyche, mining seminal memories that he transduces onto canvas and paper in his personal telegraphic style, creating sanctuary for both himself and for his subject.” Koan Jeff Baysa, exhibition catalogue.

The Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi was founded in July 2008 to protect, serve and financially sustain the Porziuncola Nuova and the National Shrine of Saint Francis. The mission of the Archconfraternity of Knights is to fulfill the tenets of their patron, Saint Francis of Assisi; to feed the poor, care for the sick, promote peace, care for Mother Earth, and, of course, protect all creatures.

Proceeds from the exhibition to benefit the Knights of Saint Francis of Assisi.

SummerSet at David Findlay Jr. Fine Art

2010-06-22T09:54:00.001-07:00

Marco Sassone will be a part of the group show SummerSet

at David Findlay Jr. Fine Art from July 1 to August 20, 2010David Findlay Jr. Fine Art

The Fuller Building

41 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022

http://www.davidfindlayjr.com/

Marco Sassone Exhibitions Planned for October 2010

2010-05-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

The studio is pleased to announce two upcoming exhibitions in

Rome, Italy and San Francisco, CA

during the month of October.

Lake Ontario, 2009, oil on canvas, 40 x 42 inches © Marco Sassone

Please check back for more information as it becomes available.

Want to join our mailing list? Send a request to marco @ marcosassone.com

Season's Greetings

2009-12-15T13:30:00.001-08:00

Florentia Ristorante

2009-11-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

Florentia Ristorante now has a website!

Visit to view the menu, and check back often for reviews and pictures.

Visit Florentia at

579 Mount Pleasant Road

Toronto, Ontario, M4S 2M5

Toronto Homeless Guide

2009-09-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Marco Sassone's artwork has been selected for the 2009 City of Toronto's Guide to services for people who are homeless.

The cover features a work from the artist's recent exhibition, Toronto.

Toronto 4, 2007, oil on canvas, 48 x 60 inches.

The back cover is from a series of portraits created after the exhibition Home on the Streets, which traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Florence, Italy.

Man with Beard, 2000. Pastel on paper, 30 x 22 inches.

For more information about Toronto Shelter, Support & Housing, please visit www.toronto.ca/housing

Florentia

2009-05-14T10:38:00.000-07:00

Sassone at Ferrari-Carano Estate

2008-12-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Marco Sassone (left), recently visited Don and Rhonda Carano at the Ferrari-Carano estate in Healdsburg, CA to autograph bottles of Tresor featuring the artist's label with the painting, Tramonto, here pictured in Don's office.

Waterfront Unveiled

2008-10-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

"Waterfront"

2008-09-26T14:04:00.001-07:00

Marco Sassone has been commissioned by the Bellagio on Bloor to create a major art work for the newly renovated lobby. Waterfront will be unveiled at a special reception in the lobby Thursday, October 16, 2008, at 7 pm.

Check back soon to see Waterfront revealed.

Ceramic Work

2008-07-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

The artist produces a small number of original works on ceramic. While ceramic art is traditionally decorative and descriptive, Sassone strives to paint as he does on canvas. After a period of experimentation in which he mastered the technical aspects of the medium, he felt the same urge that had given life to his paintings, with the added appeal of the three dimensional quality of the bisque.

T-Shirt Planned

2008-06-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

The National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C. will be relasing a special edition t-shirt featuring portaits from Marco Sassone's landmark exhibition, Home on the Streets.

Please contact the studio for more information.

Your favorite Sassone work now available as a Giclée print

2008-06-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sassone paintings are available in limited edition Giclée reproductions.

Available directly from the studio in limited edition, and printed on archival paper, each Giclée print is numbered and signed by the artist.

Letter to the Editor of Art in America

2008-05-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Clemente's Kalighat Crimes

Courtesan Dressing Her Hair (ca. 1900)

The following letter was published in the January 2007 issue of Art in America

Dear Editors:

Regarding the Letters to the Editor, “Clemente’s Indian Sources” and “Brooks Adams replies” Art in America, Sept 2006, pg 33.

“Someone did give him a catalogue about them once…” well, obviously that is where Francesco Clemente found the images for his paintings.

Vinod Dave did an excellent job uncovering Clemente’s Indian sources; he did what everyone else was unable to do. I am at a loss, however, to understand why the artist did not disclose his working “appropriations” to Brooks Adams. Clemente tells Adams about his working procedures in great detail at his New York Studio, but chooses to omit his Indian sources. The mention of the Self Portrait as Bengali Woman in the feature article, Demon Iconographer, (Art in America, May 2006) where Brooks noted that this work by Clemente was “at the top of his game” is amusing when one considers that the image for this painting was in fact appropriated from the Kalighat school of painting.

Once these interesting sources were discovered by Dave, Clemente still chooses to avoid the subject and elects to tell us, among other things, that “Salman Rushdie never mentions the connection in his Gagosian Gallery catalogue essay.” What does this comment really mean? That Rushdie needed to do research on Clemente’s work to ascertain that the work was authentic? Or that Clemente expects the readers to suspend the use of their reason when viewing the Kalighat paintings? Furthermore, when confronted with these sources, whose images are very well known to Clemente, the artist seems to assume a position of memory failure, some sort of denial that proves to be irritating for the reader.

When one considers the facts of this matter, Brooks Adams, Salman Rushdie and the Gagosian Gallery all failed in making the connection between Clemente’s work and the Indian paintings. We can categorize them as simply ignorant of the existence of these images from the Kalighat school. With regard to the artist however, who admittedly knew of the Kalighat school, his failure to credit them is totally unacceptable.

Marco Sassone

Ferrari-Carano Trésor

2008-04-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

Marco Sassone's original serigraph, Tramonto, 1993 is featured on the label of Ferrari-Carano's special release Trésor. This limited release wine is a blend of five Bordeaux varietals and is available online from the Ferrari-Carano website.

Tramonto, 1993 is available in a limited edition of 100, plus 10 Artist's Proofs and 10 impressions numbered in Roman Numerals. Tramonto is hand printed on Coventry rag paper in 95 colors, numbered and signed in pencil. This edition is available exclusively from the Marco Sassone Studio.

The image size is 30" x 36"

$2500.00
Please contact the studio directly for more information

From the Archives

2008-04-25T11:55:00.000-07:00

The artist, center, in a group picture, 1960, Italy.

Serigraphs on the Web

2008-04-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Marco Sassone Studio has published and distributed the artist’s original prints in limited edition from 1975 to present. The prints were created by the artist in collaboration with selected master printers.

Chapel at Tiburon, 1987 33 x 26 ©Marco Sassone

We have received many complaints from clients who have purchased prints online, at reduced prices. Often, these prints are defective, damaged, unsigned, or even reproductions passed off as original prints. Please be wary, and do your research before you buy.

These problems can be avoided by contacting dealers authorized by the artist, such as Pasquale Iannetti Art Galleries, or by contacting the Studio directly. The Marco Sassone Studio can often locate pieces that are rare or sold out.

Marco Sassone: Toronto

2008-04-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

Consul General of Italy Veronica Ferrucci and Consul General of the United States Claudia Baker are attending the reception for artist Marco Sassone at Odon Wagner Contemporary, Thursday April 3 from 6 to 9 pm. Also attending the opening are representatives from Toronto City Hall.

This new series of work, Toronto, portrays the urban landscape of the city that first engaged the artist’s imagination when he moved here from California. Attracted always by space Sassone paints these cityscapes from high-rise vantage points and from a street perspective, characterized by converging lines that visually pull the viewer into the work. Jonathan Goodman, art critic for Art in America, writes for the exhibition catalogue, “The painter remains a visionary, describing tall buildings and merging highways as he forges a rapport with Toronto. Sassone is profoundly interested in rendering a nearly mythic ambience, whose experience borders on the sublime.”