Cianne Fragione:
Dancing the Tarantella

On view September 9 through October 8, 2017

gallery neptune & brown is pleased to present Cianne Fragione: Dancing the Tarantella, the artist’s first one person exhibition with the gallery.

Fragione’s art career has been two-fold -- both perfectly relating to a life of movement and gesture. She had an early career as a professional dancer: ballet, modern, jazz and flamenco, which lead to her next step as an expressive abstract painter. She trained with iconic West Coast artists, Jay DeFeo, Frank Lobdell, Brain Wall, and Manuel Neri, all working and teaching in the Bay area in the 1980’s. She received her Master’s Degree in 1987. It was a creative and exciting time! At one point she even maintained two working studios, one near her home and one on the Berkeley Campus.

Her early life also had diverse influences with her mother’s family originating from northern Italy in Turin and her father’s clan from southern Italy in Sicily. Her roots were split between both families and their regions. During a family trip to Italy at age sixteen she saw the Michelangelo’s Statue of Moses in Rome and it was life changing. She saw how composition and form could convey movement and emotion. She was hooked and this began her rigorous studio practice.

The Tarantella is an upbeat folk dance in Italy that concludes every festival. Entire towns dance the night away to a swirling tempo as a way of closing a celebration with joy. This carefully “choreographed” exhibition is also a culmination of her recent work in oil and works on paper, highlighting compositions, colors, light and gestures from her travels through her beloved Italy.

Fragione has exhibited widely across the United States over the last 30 years. Her work has entered many private and public collections.