An Exhibition of Religious Art by Melody Poltroneri

Madonna II

Melody Poltroneri was born in the Bronx and currently lives in New York City. She attended U.C.L.A. and Otis/Parsons Art Institute, Los Angeles. Her art has been exhibited at the Gallery Genesis in Chicago; Traction Gallery in Los Angeles; Claremont College in Claremont, California; and Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California. Ms. Poltroneri comments on the inspiration for her work: "My work always has had a religious foundation. It is important that my painting be a vehicle for the viewer to explore their own feelings about God. The most immediately accessible images for me have been the traditional images of the Catholic Church.

"I was raised an Italian Catholic, and the ritual as well as the pictures of Mary and, naturally, the crucifix affected me deeply. The Church and its images were the most important influences in my life. As an artist, these same traditional images offer me an opportunity to explore the divine as well as the sublime. The image must always engender an emotional response from me, and ideally from the viewer as well.

"It is important that each picture allow the viewer an opportunity to find something personal within themselves. My hope is that this kind of emotional connection will be a spiritual experience for the viewer, regardless of his or her religious persuasion. If my work can achieve this function, I feel that I am contributing something."

Wassily Kandinsky once noted that "the spiritual life to which art belongs, and of which it is one of the mightiest agents, is a complex but definite movement above and beyond, which can be translated into simplicity" (Concerning the Spiritual in Art). Melody Poltroneri's art is an attempt to render in artistic "simplicity" this complex movement above and beyond. The spiritual needs to be visual, the infinite finite, and intellectual perception should lead to an emotional response, if the spiritual life wants to be truly human.

WORKS DISPLAYED

Virgin and Child
oil, enamel, gold and silver leaf on paper

Madonna and Child

Head of Christ
oil, charcoal, and paint stick on paper

Holy Ghost 1987
oil and magna on paper

Logos I 1987
oil and paint stick on gessoed paper

Virgin

Crucifixion
paint stick on paper

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