Curated by Giuseppe Pizzuto
Critical essay by Marta Silvi
Dan Witz (Chicago, 1957) urban artist renown globally, lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He attended the Rhode Island School of Design in his hometown between 1975 and 1977, and then moved to New York graduating at Cooper Union. His artistic career began in the late 1970s in the streets of Brooklyn, later developing with installations in many cities around the world. Over the years the artist has exhibited in numerous art galleries and museums internationally and has participated in various festivals such as Pow! Wow! at the Museum of Art and History – MOAH, Lancaster, California (2018) and NuART in Stavanger, Norway (2011). In 2017 Witz collaborated with Dior, for the F/W men’s collection 2017 during Paris Fashion Week. Among his latest collective exhibitions we find Beyond the streets, which took place both in New York and Los Angeles in 2018/2019 and Magic City – the art of the street in the cities of Munich, Dresden, and Stockholm in 2016/17. His talent and his artistic skills led him to achieve remarkable prizes and recognitions from institutions such as the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
After the solo exhibition Public and confidential inaugurated in 2013 at the Rome gallery, Wunderkammern presents a new solo show by Dan Witz: American Baroque. In the shown artworks a great attention is paid to details – sometimes eccentric and extravagant – which impress and create an atmosphere recalling Baroque art. These details are reworked, converging in a unique and contemporary style. On the occasion of the exhibition, the artist has decided to exhibit a series of recently produced works which are dedicated to the American Mosh-pits, depicting crowded scenes of people attending punk-hardcore concerts. In addition other works will be displayed, realized in different years from 2016 to 2019 to highlight the artist’s path. The works are made on canvas or on wood and are of various sizes.
