Miami, Florida : November, 2019 – Wentworth Galleries is honored to present, in its South Florida premiere presentation, Michael Cartellone’s Pixelism: The New Medium: an extraordinary collection, presented by the venerable Wentworth Galleries and on exhibition and available for acquisition at the Wentworth Gallery at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sunday, December 1st, 2019.
Michael Cartellone will make one live Artist Appearance from 2 pm – 4 pm: complimentary and open to the public. LYNYRD SKYNYRD WILL BE PLAYING THE HARD ROCK LIVE IN ITS FAREWELL TOUR ON NOVEMBER 30TH, 2019
Check Out Our Interview With Michael Cartellone...
World-renowned as the drummer for the legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Multi-Platinum recording artist and extraordinary visual artist presents a never-before seen Collection, with works that will provocate, delight, surprise, and lead one to contemplate the experience. The new medium and style Cartellone has developed is…in a word…stunning.
Cartellone has created a new Art genre, called “Pixelism”. This new style of painting, presents the viewer with a perfect square grid of colorful blocks. At first, these works only appear to be a vivid Modern Art statement, but as your eyes focus, the subject of the painting comes into view.
“I own a statue of Big Boy (from the famous hamburger restaurant) and thought that might be a fun subject for this innovative approach, as it was an iconic pop culture image.
When asked what inspires him to create both music and art, Cartellone remarked, “For me, Music and Art represent two halves of a whole…it’s a perfect circle of balance and motivation…I cannot imagine one without the other.”
Cartellone’s Art represents a vast array of themes and styles: with nods to Art History, photo realistic portraits, music themed works on drumheads, sprawling landscapes and colorful Pop Art.
His art sits in the collections of The Chaplin family, Russell Brand, Peter Frampton and many other notables. This Collection of over seventy works, both originals and limited editions are startling in their complexity and their conception.
PIXELISM ARTIST STATEMENT
“I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio… and one day, alongside other elementary school Art students, we took a field trip to the Salvador Dali Museum… which at the time was in a Cleveland suburb of Beachwood, Ohio. One painting stopped me in my tracks, “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Homage to Rothko”, which Dali had painted in 1976. This incredible painting has an amazing optical effect… at first, you see a nude woman, Dali’s wife, Gala, standing at an archway looking out to the sea… but as you move further back, the image changes focus and you see a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. It was an amazing thing to experience in person and had made a long- lasting impression on me.”
“Fast forward: I was sitting at my computer one day, waiting for an Internet page to open… apparently, I didn’t have a strong enough connection and the page was opening slowly… and I was seeing a pixelated image… then a few seconds later, the page opened and the image came into focus… it then triggered the memory of standing in front of that Dali painting as a child. I thought to myself, it might be interesting to somehow combine these two things: Dali’s optical effect and the contemporary pixilation people have become accustomed to seeing”.
Cartellone talks about one of his most interesting works titled "The Four Davids"...