Life is a Carnival: from the Figurative to the Abstract, a UMVA (Union of Maine Visual Artists) art exhibit opens at the Waldo Theatre, 916 Main St, Waldoboro, on July 6 and runs to August 4, 2024. Over a dozen artists are showing prints, photography, paintings and more in the spirit of one of the UMVA founders, Carlo Pittore. Some of Pittore’s work will be included in the exhibition as well. The artists’ reception is Thursday, July 25 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm. The documentary film CARLO … and his Merry Band of Artists by Richard Kane, the latest film in the Maine Masters series, will screen July 25 at 7 pm (runs one hour and 17 minutes). The CARLO documentary will also screen at Nomad, 14 Main St, Brunswick on August 1st at 5pm and August 4 at 2 pm in conjunction with a UMVA art exhibit Then and Now: Works by the Early UMVA Cast throughout August at Nomad; as well as the Colonial Theater, 163 High St, Belfast on August 13th at 7pm.  Contact each venue for ticket prices.

Pittore, In addition to being one of the UMVA founders in 1975, also created "The Academy of Carlo Pittore" in 1987 at his studio in Bowdoinham, Maine. Here he invited artists from all over to come and share their knowledge and talents in an academic forum; while he hosted drawing classes, painted and drew the artists (and models) and also cooked for them. The full film portrait of Pittore that emerges in interviews with those who knew him is a collage of Neal Cassady, Pablo Picasso, and Emeril Lagasse. The UMVA proposed, lobbied for, and successfully passed into state law the “Maine Percent for Art Program” and the “Artist’s Estate Tax Law”. From 1978 to 1980, Pittore was a council member for the "Comprehensive Employment Training Act Artists Project" in New York City. Just before his death in 2005, the Maine College of Art awarded Pittore an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts. 

The "Carlo Pittore Foundation for the Figurative Arts" was founded in 2006. Pittore was a thoroughgoing humanist devoted to the human figure. He drew and painted just about everyone he knew. His nudes and portraits are very much like the man himself — bold, boisterous even, frank, sensuous, and uncompromising. His oeuvre includes paintings of boxers, carnival performers, and modern takes on classical paintings, portraits, self-portraits, nudes, landscapes, mail art, and his comic drawings.

A figurative painter in the modernist manner of Lucian Freudand Alice Neel, Pittore painted in the figurative expressionist and portraiture style; focusing mainly on the nude form of study. On account of this, critics and objectors occasionally viewed his work as "erotic" rather than objective art.

Throughout his life, Pittore was extremely vocal toward such critics and what he perceived to be "ignorance" toward his art or art in general. He refused the title of Gay artist. He did not shy away from either voicing his opinion in letters to the editor or removing his exhibits from art galleries or public showings. His exhibit of Boxers at a Portland restaurant was removed by the owner after patrons complained of their gruesome nature.   The colors red and green (symbols of the Italian flag) were two essential components in Pittore's work that defined his belief and understanding of complementary palette application. 

The contrast of these two color schemes arise time and again throughout his works; as can be seen in "Portrait of Blair Tily" (1987), "Opera - Self Portrait" (1981), "La Buffonera" (1983), and "Portrait of a Skeptic" (1996). Pittore's "Lincoln Portrait Series" was the only oil-on-canvas medium in which he worked without color. For this, he painted entirely in black and white due to the fact that the portraits were modeled after 19th-century photographs of Abraham Lincoln. Pittore died in 2005 from cancer.

The UMVA, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that promotes and advocates for the visual arts, artists, and all arts supporters. As artist advocates, the UMVA initiated and saw enacted into state law the Maine Percent for Art Program (requiring a percentage of funds for state buildings to include art) and the Artist's Estate Tax Law (allowing art work to be used to pay artists estate taxes). Other programs and projects supported by UMVA include: The Maine Arts Journal, an online, quarterly publication featuring essays by and about artists, interviews, UMVA member submissions, poetry, UMVA updates about its current projects, local chapters, and more; ARRT! Artists' Rapid Response Team, a collaboration of artists & progressive groups making art to create positive change;Lumen ARRT!!, a group creating large-scale video projections in public spaces to give a visual voice to progressive non-profits; and the New England Emmy Award-nominated Maine Masters Project, a video series of 19 compelling profiles of some of Maine’s most distinguished and often less recognized artists. There are currently two chapters: Portland and Midcoast. More information is at www.TheUMVA.org.

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