Hotel Croydon, 3720 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140
At first sight, Sea Show appears as a colorful luminic sculpture installed on the wall but then it suddenly morphs. The colored light patterns on the sides begin blending with the images that appear in the seemingly concealed TV monitor in the center, immediately shifting the viewer’s sensorial experience, colored by abstraction, animation and story telling. Sea Show borrows its name from the popular annual event Air & Sea Show, giving it a whimsical spin and posing critical questions around the environment’s role in our lives and our voracious consumption of it. Is there a parallel between our ingestion of digital screen content and our depletion of natural resources? I created the first iteration of this piece last year, titled Flight of Colors and it was displayed at the Coral Springs Museum as part of a group exhibit titled ‘Color + Light + Space’. I am proposing a second iteration utilizing the same sculpture but replacing the video the viewer will see in the TV monitor. The video of Flight of Colors alternates images of an egret in the Everglades, moving bars of colors and flocks of birds, having as focal point the act of flying, be it by human hands or birds. The video for Sky & Sea Show will explore elements of water, color and light using digital animation, spreading out from the centre of the sculpture, at times blending with the light patterns on each side, at times starkly contrasting them. The video will play in a loop and will be approximately six to eight minutes long. The sculpture is ten feet wide, consisting of a curved TV monitor with two LED panels attached on each side, plexiglass, wood and colored transparency paper. It can be turned on and off by plugging it and unplugging it from the wall or from a power source. It can also be operated automatically with a timer at the client’s request. My work often combines media, sculpture and installation, investigating my interest in both technology and nature by illuminating existential questions around these subjects, often with a surrealistic approach. I also explore principles of aerodynamics that reveal the science and poetry behind the mechanics of flight. My practice includes film, mixed media, sculpture and video art.
Initially trained as Aeronautical Engineer, Claudio Marcotulli received his B.F.A from Emerson College in Boston and M.F.A from the Miami International University of Art and Design in 2005. Since then, his work has been exhibited internationally and has received support from The Knight Foundation, South Florida PBS and Live Arts Miami, among others.
Claudio Marcotulli uses media, sculpture and installation to create works that investigate his interest in technology and nature by illuminating existential questions around these subjects. His projects range from sculpture and performance installations to film and digital imagery that often reference memory, natural elements, and issues of climate change with a surrealistic and existential approach. Marcotulli also explores principles of aerodynamics that reveal the science and poetry behind the mechanics of flight. He lives and works in Miami, Florida and is a resident artist at Laundromat Art Space.