"Art is Bread and Wine"

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Iscariot 11"x14" Oil on Canvas 1998

MY VIEW POINT :

Art is the nectar from which the most important civilizations of the past have derived their nourishment. It is this art that shows us the story of a people. The civilizations of the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Aztecs, immortalized their eras because their artists knew how to create colossal works of art that distinguished them and at the same time intimidated other contemporary peoples . None the less, it is true that the greatest social, economic, and religious developments have been accompanied by artistic and cultural developments of equal value. To prove this one need only examine the period from the Gothic Renaissance (Medieval) to the European Baroque ( 1300-1700 AD). This era saw great socio-economic developments to a large extent due to the discoveries first of China and later of America, but above all due to the birth in the old continent of true genius of art and of culture, on which contemporary man continues to grow.

Tito MAAN –MANGIOLA


Madonna and Child
24"x20"
Oil on Canvas 1979

The Kiss of Judas
16"x20"
Oil on Canvas 1997

L’OEIL:  Monthly Art Journal—Lausanne (Switzerland) No. 362 September 1985—

Extract translation from original French,   by Dominique Vollichard


Annunziato Mangiola ...who paints under the name of Tito Maan … is a Calabrian. He is part of the large, more or less voluntary Italian Diaspora that has moved to countries farther north… in particular Switzerland… in search of work and a more peaceful society. The works of this young painter are profoundly and harshly marked by the sometimes painful experiences lived through in a country still dominated by the Mafia. They are as it were a witness or reflection of a European reality which the news often reminds us is largely made up of corruption, murder, settling of accounts and terrorism. ...In the face of this constraining situation fraught with dangerous powers, determined not to give in to either prudent silence or resigned obedience , Tito Maan has struggled energetically in the heart of his native country. With his weapons of painting and drawing, he has never ceased to denounce injustice and poverty, the mind-sets that have kept southern Italy in a state of neglect and underdevelopment , echoing the cries of the weakest and most helpless. Tito Maan has been designated in Calabria as the ”painter of non violence” by art critic Luigi Malafarina. The majority of his works are grouped under the title “The World of the Excluded”, and are scattered through private collections, especially in Italy, a few remaining in the possession of the artist in Lausanne

… Defeated, exploited, ignored and annihilated, his characters speak their intimate revolt, their hopes and their desperation. Here, a father discovers his child murdered; there, an opulent clerical banquet is invaded by starving multitudes and stray dogs; farther on, a mutilated child brandishes a poster telling the viewer, “You have so much, and I almost nothing”. Finally Judas, symbol of those who deny humanity and love, kissing Christ to single him out to his enemies, the world of Tito Maan is a constant reminder of all that violence has done to man by man. ...