October 29, 2004 - January 23, 2005
New Work Gallery

Fabian Marcaccio uses the traditional elements of painting to create works that are not paintings at all but new inventions he calls "paintants," or mutant paintings. The artist manipulates figure and ground, brushstroke, even the way canvas is stretched. He mixes diverse media in a single work, employing printmaking, digital photography, painting, and sculpture. In doing so, he transforms painting's surface into something that surrounds the viewer.

Marcaccio's environmental paintants, which he has exhibited both indoors and outdoors, suggest murals, banners, panoramic scenery and makeshift shelters.

Miami-Paintant, created especially for MAM, is about 100-feet long and 13-feet high. The work appears to begin in a white void that suddenly gives way to a tumultuous gathering of images, filled with fleshy forms and ominous thickets, and ends in chaotic darkness.

The exhibition is organized by Miami Art Museum and curated by Associate Curator Cheryl Hartup as part of New Work, a series of projects by leading contemporary artists.