Palazzo Borghese, Florence, Italy June 15th – 19th 2016
Presenting participating artist: LYDIA PANART
Toronto-based visual artist, muralist, architect, and educator Lydia Panart brings us her latest collection of acrylic paintings on canvas, entitled “Huellas” (Spanish for “footprints or traces.”) A deeply reflective body of work brimming with eidetic imagery, “Huellas” is themed around movement, and particularly the traces left behind in the mystical journey of discovering one’s true self, as well as finding one’s meaning and purpose in life. These traces are depicted with nuanced detail through successive, densely textured ,and chromatically rich layers, encapsulating the depth and subtlety of human life experiences.
Panart’s flowing, instinctive brushwork and close attention to color and line renders the iconography of the “Huellas” collection. Deeply emotional and powerfully engaging, it invites audiences to immerse in meditation on life’s magic and nostalgically recall personal memories that have left a mark on their hearts. Reminiscent of the painterly lyrical abstraction, her canvases are poetic waltzes, evocatively capturing the passage of time, motion, change, and the myriad emotions throughout one’s life journey, from melancholy, to hope, to sheer happiness. Of particular resonance in this collection is the striking painting that pays tribute to famous Argentine painter Raul Soldi, best known for portraying theatrical figures with a distinctive melancholic appearance.
In the space-themed collection of paintings called “Eclipse”, Panart vibrantly captures recollections and impressions of different spaces that have struck a chord with her during her travels. As an architect, space has always carried special connotations for Panart, but the iconographic appeal of this collection lies in the artist’s emotional response to the spaces depicted. Panart’s body of work also encompasses the colorful, fiery Layers collection, portraying the intricacies of human nature, as well as the Dubai-inspired Synergy collection, centered on compositional elements in opposition.
Holding a degree in architecture from the National University of Buenos Aires and a diploma in interior design from MOBI Institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Panart has participated in countless international art symposia, as well as art exhibits across Canada, South America, and Europe. She was presented with the 2005 Mississauga Visual Arts Award. Mentored by the late master artist Kenneth Kemble, one of the most prominent figures of the Art Informel in Argentina, the award-winning artist serves as an educator and mentor to aspiring artists in the Southern Ontario community, proactively offering creative support through art studio workshops and courses. The Canadian artist is commissioned to create murals and other community art projects for public institutions and private corporations. She offers full-color architectural renderings in various media.
About Florence Design Week
…STYLE, PLEASURE, LIFESTYLE, ART DE VIVRE
Florence Design Week – International Design Festival is an event dedicated to design in all its forms, and to art, as means of communication and promotion of culture, along with local identity in a global vision.
At the fifth edition in the City of Florence, this year too, there will take place the spontaneous role as catalyst for national and international creative energy as expressed by professionals, companies and institutions that make a way of life, not only a profession, out of design and visual arts.
Florence Design Week is a multi-disciplinary and creative project designed to communicate the identity of individuals, businesses, cultures, and societies to the world.
Life style, pleasure, art de vivre, environmental sustainability, a mix of business and network, virtuous contamination, make Florence again the center of the aesthetic debate to express visual, functional, ethical beauty in the world.
The Festival is therefore a must for industry experts, professionals, entrepreneurs, companies, teachers, students, creative Italians and foreigners who for the occasion will be able to visit a number of prestigious locations throughout the city center. Among the names already confirmed are prominent companies and leading designers.
With the Patronate of the President of the Republic G.Napolitano and the awarding of a medal for the task Florence Design Week 2011, the High patronage of the Ministry and Culture, Ministry of Youth alond with the patronage of the Tuscany Region, Province of Florence, Council of Florence and Council of Calenzano, Florence Design Week 2013 opens this year more and more innovative scenarios, intercultural and international.
Florence Design Week has seen collaboration with SIDA Shenzen Industrial Design Profession Association (China), London Design Festival, Moscow Design Week, Saint-Petersburg Design Week, Russian Pavilion, Design d’Autore, Arts International Magazine, ArchiLovers and more!
Graphic and Visual Design, Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Interior Design, Music and Food Design will be celebrated during the whole week. Exhibitions, workshops, meetings, design-aperitifs and an innovative night-life will be organized to create a real network between designers and people, between past and future. Taking part at the Florence Design Week is a great possibility to perceive the city designed on a new and
contemporary light!