FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     

JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents in the Main Gallery:
“FAIRY TALES AND MONSTERS” Featuring New Works by Patrick Maisano

Additional Works by Shannon Richardson

June 7, 2012 – June 30, 2012
Opening Reception: June 7^th, 2012 from 6-9pm to coincide with Laguna Beach ArtWalk  
Please RSVP: 949.510.5481 by June 1^st, 2012

JoAnne Artman Gallery
326 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, 92651

Contact:  JoAnne Artman
Telephone:  949-510-5481
E-mail: joanneartman@aol.com
Web site: www.joanneartmangallery.com
Open Wed-Sunday, 11-5 & by appointment; First Thursday of every month 6-9pm

Fairy Tales & Monsters

A fairy tale is a type of short story featuring fantastic forces and beings, such as goblins, elves, giants and mermaids that carry magical enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies.

A monster is a fictional creature, often of a threatening force, producing fear or physical harm by its appearance or its actions. The word "monster" derives from Latin monstrum, an aberrant occurrence, usually biological, that was taken as a sign that something was wrong within the natural order.

With the current trends in television and film that explore our childhood fables, we thought who better to capture these storybook characters through Contemporary Art than Patrick Maisano!

Once Upon a Time…

PATRICK MAISANO

Born April 1964 in New Haven, Connecticut, Maisano graduated from the University of Connecticut in 1986. He was about to enter graduate studies in pursuit of a fine art teaching credential when a compelling force drew him in a different direction. Maisano spent a year contemplating a religious vocation at a Franciscan Community in New York City. During this period of deliberation over a religious life, a reading of Otto Rank's Art and Artist resonated with personal truth and Maisano decided that his intended path was that of an artist rather than a priest. In 1992, Maisano left New York for California where he constructed a reclusive lifestyle devoted solely to his art. Since 1992 Patrick Maisano has shown his work annually, and his paintings have been placed in distinguished American collections. The enchanting imagery found in Patrick Maisano's paintings tells a universal story in the timeless language of myth. This is art that elicits a response from our most basic level; pure, instinctual, spiritually primal. Mythical beings, mystical beasts and religious iconography combine to create magical compositions that are joyful, haunting, metaphysical, and very beautiful. His work is transcendental and immediate, masculine and feminine, testimonial and celebratory.

“In my new body of work "Fairy Tales and Monsters," classic children's stories and dark more menacing characters of the imagination ("monsters") serve as inspiration. My intention is to go beyond the duality that exists at the surface of these enduring allegories and portray their deeper transcendent nature,” Patrick Maisano.