News
Exhibitions and Events:
TRUCK’N WITH VITO! A mobile campaign that promotes the need for better access to art education and art vocational and entrepenureal opportunities for adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder began its journey on March 22, 2014 attending the Inspire Conference in CT. Next Vito and his artmobile kicks off their Indiegogo fundraising efforts with a Campaign Launch Celebration Party and the opening of a solo exhibition on May 24, 2014 at Umbrella Arts Gallery, NYC, which runs through June 28, 2014.
Also during May and June, Vito and his Truck’n With Vito! artmobile will be making stops at:
May: Howl Festival Tompkins Square Park NYC, May 30, 31 & June 1
May: Bushwick Open Studios NY, May 30, 31 and June1
June: Sono Arts Festival Norwak CT, June 28 & 29
The purpose of the Indiegogo Fundraiser is to help fund the Truck’n With Vito! artmobile to be able to continue on to the following events to further spread the word about the awesome talents of artists with ASD.
July/Aug: Uarts at Connecticut Commission on the Arts
September: Dumbo Arts Festival, NY
September: IAM Festival, CT
September 6: Op Sail, CT
September 22: Envision Fest, CT
October 3: LAMP, CT
October: Open Studios, CT
October: SOFA/Chicago
December: Wynwood, Art Basil Miami
January 2015: Metro Fair, NYC
SOLO EXHIBITION: UNFILTERED V: VITO BONANNO RIDING WITH THE TRAIN GIRLS.
Location: Eastern Connecticut State University, Akus Gallery
“Unfiltered V: Vito Bonanno Riding with the Train Girls” offers an unabashed glimpse into the inner workings of the artist’s complex and creative mind. Shrine-like installations and an unconventional, quirky accompaniment of objects bring both alarming and charmingly comedic elements to the table but simultaneously deliver Bonanno’s messages into sharp focus. A distinct dialogue is present between the physical objects, all directly referenced in the artist’s work, and the vast range of media used in the artwork.
Vito Bonanno’s art contains the essence of his life, feelings, thoughts and dreams, centered around objects or topics that “get stuck in his head,” including traffic lights, grids, ceiling fans and graffiti. His work is image and concept driven and may incorporate any media which will fuel this expression. Using spray paints, gouache, India inks, oils, acrylics and other media, Bonanno works on paper, canvas or whatever support may suit. Most of the characters or topics he draws are important to his life and embedded in his personal philosophy. His work has been described as raw, unfiltered, unedited, truthful, comedic, irresistible, bold, playful and charming, much like the man himself. “He has found a way to tap into the intensity of focus and insight afforded him through Autism Spectrum Disorder to unleash a formidable creative power and vision,” explains Elizabeth Peterson, director of the Akus Gallery, Eastern CT University..
As part of the solo exhibition was a unique installation that was created expressly for the Unfiltered V exhibition at Eastern. It is a recreation and mash-up of several of the ‘shrines’ which Bonanno builds in his studio and living space including the installations Raining at JCC, Elo, Jim Morrison and the Apps 40 Years in the Future, Pledge, and Empire State. Also included in the free-standing kiosk are a series of the artist’s journals and other objects. These installations and their contents give insight into Bonanno’s visual lexicon (for more on that topic, see the handout “Vito’s Vocabulary”). They also give a sense of the systematic, obsessive, and rhythmic way he works and collects objects that inspire him.
Click to review the ECSU Akus Galery pages
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Interactive Mural
During Vito’s Solo Exhibition at Eastern Ct State University’s Akus Gallery in February 2012, The college created an Interactive Mural Project as part of a Dean’s Cup Event where students, staff, faculty and members of the community were invited to join the artist, Vito, in the creative process to create a one of a kind mural. This is what they made.
The Interactive Mural project of “Unfiltered V” is a Dean’s Cup Event at Eastern. The Dean’s Cup competition is an academic and service-related event that promotes spirit and collaboration among students living in the residence halls on campus. The competition’s purpose is to see which residence hall can get the most students to attend special events on campus while simultaneously encouraging students to become well seasoned in a variety of experiences; conducive to Eastern’s liberal arts mission.
After graduation from Chapel Haven in 2005, he enrolled for private art classes at Creative Arts Workspace in New Haven. Here he was introduced to a variety of mediums, including monoprint making and took classes here from 2006-2010. He participated in student shows, and it was at Vito was a student at Creative Arts Workshop, where he learned to make monoprints with his artist instructor, Liz Pagano. He was here that he made two pieces, Ghost Town on Davenport Avenue and Southhaven People that would win him a national award. Around this time his parents discovered by attending an Outsider Art Show in NYC that Vito was not alone as an untrained talent. Encouraged by this, his mother entered those two works into a juried exhibition for young people with disabilities conducted by VSA Arts in conjunction with Volkswagen in 2009. His pieces were chosen and he was named one of 15 emerging young artists with disabilities by VSA Arts and Volkswagen, and was honoured with an award of excellence and cash prize from a juried exhibition for his printmaking piece, “Ghost Town on Davenport Avenue,” which was exhibited at the S. Dillon Ripley Center of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., followed by a two-year nationwide tour of university and independent galleries. A second piece, “South Haven People,” was on exhibit at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, also in Washington, D.C. Vito was invited to Washington DC to receive his award and be recognized as an “Emerging Young Artist”. Here is a video showcasing this event.
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VSA Arts Washington DC Award of Excellence Achievement
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Scrawl 2011
On February 9, 2011, 48 artists began working, individually and in teams to transform the landscape of Artspace, New Haven, with simple materials and their own ingenuity. Inspired by the Surrealist’s Exquisite Corpse games, Scrawl creates an exhibition in an experimental way within minimal means. Artspace started with nothing but bare gallery walls, the selected artists and teams and some Sharpie markers, creating an embodied drawing-based project with an undetermined outcome. Each artist or team of artists (Scrawlers) was assigned a portion of wall and floor to work with, which segued into other participants’ space within the main gallery. The scrawlers created their drawing without being able to see what the artists next to them were doing, ultimately collaborating on one giant collective work. The 48 participating artists were chosen by Martha Lewis, Scrawl’s organizer and include artists at various stages of their careers.
Vito applied with artist Justin Crosby, and their team named “Traffic Lights and Warning Stripes” was chosen to participate. The result was an extraordinary experience with an even more extraordinary and wonderfully individual yet cohesive gallery space sized mural that was both enchanting and inspiring to artists and viewers alike.
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Intuit Outsider Art Fair, Chicago, IL, November 2010
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Change, Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Hartford, CT June 2010
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95 Artists on 1-95, Umbrella Arts NYC August 2010
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In 2010 Vito was a major artist represented by Umbrella Arts Gallery NYC at the annual Outsider Arts Fair in New York where he sold many pieces which continued to acknowledgment him as an important emerging young artist nationally.
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Vito Bonanno Outsider Art Fair NYC 2010
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Car door project
May 2012
During Westville’s Artwalk 15, artists were chosen to create art on various donated scrap car doors, and the results were exhibited at Aquilla Motors during the Artwalk celebration. This is Vito’s car door creation.
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Utility Box
Vito’s unique bold style of graffiti like fragmented text and highly toned sketchy symbols and people are strongly evident in this art he and artist Liz Squallice created together on a utility box which is located on McLevy Green in Bridgeport CT as part of a public art project in 2011.
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