Marco Cianfanelli

Marco Cianfanelli obtained his BA in Fine Art with distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand. He has won numerous awards and has also been awarded a number of fellowships and study bursaries. He has lectured at tertiary art institutions in South Africa, and his work is represented in public and private collections in South Africa, Europe and the USA. The artist was a member of the design team for the Freedom Park, South Africa’s national monument to freedom in Pretoria. His fragmented portrait, Capture, stands on the site in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands where Nelson Mandela was arrested, and this artwork marks the 50th anniversary of the icon’s capture. He has also executed a number of other public artworks, for instance, in Johannesburg at the Hollard Street Mall, at the MTN head office, at the offices of AngloGold Ashanti and at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery. Cianfanelli is constantly testing the possibilities for artistic intervention in the public realm. In so doing, he has been involved in a wide range of projects involving art, architecture and public space. His work embodies a wide variety of media and materials, from laser-cut materials and masked glass to digital imaging. The artist’s work explores social hierarchies and channels of consumption as they relate to aspects of human desire, beauty and material relationships. He sometimes makes sculptures that are transitional, in the sense that they are static forms that require the viewer to perceive their abstract and figurative qualities as they move around or through the works.

Marco Cianfanelli behaal sy BA-graad in Beeldende Kunste met lof aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand. Hy wen verskeie pryse en toekennings, en studie- en navorsingsbeurse is ook aan hom toegeken. Cianfanelli het by ’n paar tersiêre instellings in Suid-Afrika klas gegee.Sy werk word in openbare en korporatiewe versamelings in Suid-Afrika, Europa en die VSA verteenwoordig. Cianfanelli was lid van die ontwerpspan vir Vryheidspark, Suid-Afrika se nasionale monument vir vryheid in Pretoria. Sy gefragmenteerde portret, Capture, is opgerig op die terrein in die Middelland van KwaZoeloe-Natal waar Nelson Mandela in hegtenis geneem is, en die werk gedenk dié ikoon se gevangenisneming 50 jaar gelede. Die kunstenaar het ook ’n aantal ander openbare kunswerke opgerig, onder andere in Johannesburg by die Hollardstraat-inkopiesentrum, die MTN-hoofkantoor, AngloGold Ashanti se kantoor en die Universiteit van Johannesburg se kunsgalery. Cianfanelli toets voortdurend die moontlikhede van kuns-ingryping in die openbare domein. Op hierdie manier het hy betrokke geraak by ’n wye verskeidenheid projekte wat met kuns, argitektuur en openbare ruimtes te make het. Sy werk sluit verskillende tipes media en materiale in, van lasergesnyde metaal en gemaskeerde glas tot digitale ontwerpe. Sy werk verken maatskaplike rangordes en verbruikswyses, en die verband wat dit hou met fasette van menslike begeerte, skoonheid en materiële eise. Hy maak soms beelde wat dubbelsinnig is, in dié sin dat dit statiese vorms is wat van die kyker vereis om rondom en daardeur te loop ten einde die abstrakte en figuratiewe eienskappe daarvan te herken.