New art exhibit, Identity Theft, opened on
Friday, November 2nd, 2007 from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Enjoy viewing hand-selected paintings and prints by artist Antonio Petracca, which contemplates ancient Italian culture and achievements set against American style mob movie slang and stereotypical one liners.

The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, in cooperation with Kim Foster Gallery, New York, N.Y. is proud to announce the opening of a new art exhibition by artist Antonio Petracca.

Petracca developed an interest in art from an early age and with this desire and talent, he received a BFA and MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology. He was Founder and Executive Director of Pyramid Arts Center, a non-profit space for artists, in Rochester, N.Y. and has shown his artwork throughout the U.S. and abroad since the early 1980’s.

Growing up in a segregated Italian neighborhood in the 40’s and 50’s in Rochester, N.Y., Petracca knew that ethnic and religious bias had something to do with where he lived. During his early years as an artist, he was influenced by the new movements of Pop Art and Minimalism. As a result, Petracca’s work became a combination of photography, mixed media, abstraction and Pop. His travels throughout the country as founder of the Pyramid Arts Center further developed his work. He became interested in viewing the world through a camera lens tainted with visual pollution and encroachment.

With the incidents of 9/11, Petracca witnessed some populations become objects of fear and bias. This triggered mixed emotions and memories of negative attitudes against Italian-Americans in Rochester. Stereotypical jokes about Italians, The Sopranos on HBO and organized crime docudrama gave him the impetus to handle these issues in his art. The works appropriate Italian Masterpieces and combine them with text quotes from news media, internet, and historical material that poignantly juxtapose the richness of Italian culture with the shallow nature of media bias against Italian-Americans. Petracca’s paintings and prints from the Pompeian series will be on display through the end of February 2008.

GENERAL INFORMATION: Identity Theft Exhibition by Antonio Petracca, Opening Night on November 2nd, 2007 from 7- 9 p.m., admission free. This exhibition will remain open through the end of February 2008 and admission is $5 per person which includes admission to the museum.