Alexander (Alex) Bocchialini Shundi was born in 1944 in Correggio ( Reggio Emilia ), Italy and lived in Parma, Italy until the age of 13 when he moved with his family to the United States. Shundi earned his BFA and MFA Degrees from Yale University in New Haven, CT. Prior to that, he received training at the Silvermine College of Art in New Canaan, CT; the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, France; and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milano, Italy where he studied painting with Pompeo Borra and sculpture with Marino Marini.
Shundi's distinquished teaching career began at Yale in 1968-1969 and continued with positions held at other academic institutions including Silvermine College of Art; the University of Bridgeport where he taught painting; the State University of NY at SUNY Purchase; and the Rothschild Estate in Langau, Austria ( private tutoring ). He originated and was Dean of the La Coste-Silvermine School of Art in Provence, France; and served as the Dean of Painting at Santa Fe International Academy of Art from 1993 through 1998 where he also taught.
Shundi currently teaches Visual Aesthetics, Advanced Media Aesthetics, Art History and the History of Art and Technology to Graduate Film and Communication students at NY Institute of Technology in Manhattan; and Painting at Arts on the Lake in Lake Carmel, NY. He has conducted bi-yearly, week-long Intensive workshops in Painting and Art History for the past ten years in Santa Fe, NM and has traveled for over fifteen years exploring the American Southwest, with particular focus on both ancient and current Pueblo culture, art and mythology.
Shundi's works are in public and private collections in the United States and abroad. He has been the subject of numerous articles in newspapers and magazines such as Art News, Art in America, Arte Moderna, The New York Times, The Miami Herald and Pasatiempo. He shows internationally and currently exhibits his work at New Art Gallery in Litchfield, CT.
Visit his web site at www.alexandershundi.com .
The paintings are an exploration of a very simple concept: fire in a southwest landscape. So, I did 462 of them, trying to make very different atmospheres and temperatures, generally changing the emotional mood while always keeping in mind the importance of compositional elements: relationships to the rectangular format; use of corners; repetition of rhythmical shapes and lines; creation of related geometrical spaces and poems of color.
I also wanted to allow the viewer to enter into the landscape and walk as far as possible. The series taught me that there are no boundaries when it comes to imagination, that any subject has limitless possibilities, and that nature offers rich diversity and pure aesthetic magic at every turn. The little paintings are completely imagined, with no reference other than memory, fantasy, and a love for playing compositional games. I found that shapes and forms in nature also love to play homage to each other.
Alex
New Mexico Fire...
