WINTER 2020 Italian American Digest PAGE 14
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the Ursulines . His devotional public work provides certain strength to the mystery of New Orleans .
Alessandrini ’ s Portrait of John Paul II Photo by Ellis Anderson
The first floor of Alessandrini ’ s studio building functions as an exhibition gallery . Constructed of immaculate , polished white marble , the gallery presents finished sculpture , drawings , paintings , and prints . The space is airy , clean , and balanced with our New Orleans atmosphere on the gray , rain-filled day . Walking through the space , almost breathing the artwork in , a vertical , totem-like sculpture draws us into conversation .
" Rituals " is tall , reaching slightly below our eye level and hand-carved from Carrera marble . It depicts an almost frightening combination of animal and human faces , newborns , and highly rendered genitalia . Each form is connected with the others by abstract flame and water shapes that lead the eye strategically from one moment to the next and back again . Alessandrini explains that this sculpture addresses the duality of man manifested in religion , regeneration , sex , and the relationship between early pagan behavior with contemporary Christianity .
The piece evokes feelings of embarrassment and enlightenment at the same time - it ' s almost impossible to look away . The work is a surprise and a jarring juxtaposition to the public works that align morality and the ethics of human behavior in a more traditional way .
His works-in-progress , paintings , and drawings hang throughout the gallery and the adjoining space and populate his working studio on the third floor . They bring light and life to an authentic antique building in a state that rarely exists in today ’ s environment of homogenization . The interior of his studio provides a beautiful glimpse into what most historic French Quarter buildings looked and smelled like before the mass bleaching of gentrification . As we reach the top of the last flight of stairs , the humidity greets us as light pours through open doors and windows , illuminating a vast trove of in-progress and stored artwork . Among peeling wallpaper , shapes of fallen plaster , old beadboard influenced by the patina of age , water marks left by humidity , rain , and more sit rolls and rolls of canvases off their stretcher bars awaiting the right collector or curator to share them with a new generation .
Piles of sketches , studies , unfinished monumental works on swinging structures three deep in front of walls , tables with palettes covered in paint , brushes , old
handmade screen printing supplies that he created himself . All the stuff of art , of creation , of life .
Amidst the whirlwind of chaos and creativity , Alessandrini sits with the gravity of silence , stillness and calm like the eye of a hurricane . He observes quietly from a large black chair in the center of everything .
Gratitude washes over me as I consider our conversations on beauty , on art , on man , and on representation . His work transcends culture , language and form . He is an artist in the truest sense , defying the boundaries of representation , style and media - a living treasure to the New Orleans art community , the French Quarter and beyond .
Saskia is a curator and painter who has worked in the visual arts for over 20 years . She is the Founding Director of The Institute for Fine Arts Practice , Research , and Preservation as well as the non-profit , The Ozols Collection : A Museum for American Painting and Pedagogy . She has taught painting , drawing , or arts related research seminars at a number of Institutions including Boston University , Tulane University , and Loyola University . Her paintings have been exhibited regionally , nationally , and abroad in cities including New Orleans , Boston , Philadelphia , New York as well as Moscow and St . Petersburg . Her work is represented in collections internationally .
http :// www . practicepreservation . org http :// ozolscollection . org http :// saskiaozols . com