Arts & Entertainment

Under the Sol Niger: The Paintings of Juanita Guccione

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Published: 12 September 2014 12 September 2014

Like many of the women artists associated (even peripherally) with Surrealism, Juanita Guccione eschewed labels of any kind, and with good reason.  Her life was rich with diverse artistic mentors, spiritual traditions, and creative developments that make it impossible to reduce her nuanced body of work to one movement. Nevertheless, Surrealism’s wide cultural influence, particularly strong in the United States during World War II when many of its artists were exiled and living in New York City, is not to be underestimated.  Guccione, who met Surrealism’s founder and leader André Breton at this time, was drawn (like many women artists from the Americas and elsewhere), to the potentials of its pictorial language. 

As the scholar Gloria Feman Orenstein astutely observes, the women artists associated with the surrealist movement can be conceptually linked with Breton’s conception of “The Great Transparents,” a proposition he developed while in exile in New York, that banished Man from the mythological center of the universe in an attempt to create a new and more relevant mythological structure for humanity.  Orenstein states: “The women artists of the surrealist movement can be perceived metaphorically as the Great Transparents, as Breton defines them – beings whose stature and significance is immense, but who are overlooked and dismissed as nonexistent.”[1]  Orenstein firmly places Guccione in this category, noting the artist’s formation of realms presided over by powerful and strong Amazon-like women, such as those seen in Masquerade (c. 1946).  As she and Djelloul Marbrook attest, this was likely due to Guccione’s earlier and formative experiences with the Ouled Naïl, a matriarchal tribe in Algeria that she lived in close proximity to.

The influence of Surrealism, however, can also be seen in Guccione’s earlier abstract paintings from the late 1930s and early 1940s – before her contact with Breton. In works such as Christmas (c. 1937) and Distractions (1940) there is a bright color palette, rhythmic arrangement of form, and use of organic shapes that bear some pictorial relation to the works of Joan Miró and others working in a biomorphic surrealist style.  Around this time the artist begins to insert certain symbols that reflected her life-long interest in esoteric belief systems such as Sufism, Rosicrucianism, Theosophy, Kabala, Tarot and astrology.  Checkered floors, crosses, orbs of light, stairways, and spirals suggest secret codes and access to alternate dimensions.  Cosmological configurations such as comet-like flashes, crescent moons and full moons appear frequently and transition into her figural work where they take a more prominent position. 

The Sol Niger of alchemical traditions and Jungian psychology becomes a signature emblem for Guccione, hovering in dramatic skies streaked with unearthly colors to create a haunting and mysterious ambience.  The black sun can represent the melancholy of the artist who metaphorically must explore darkness in order to gain greater self-knowledge, or perhaps the transformation of trauma into growth and life.  In Acrobats (c.1949) two androgynous figures set in a metaphysical landscape have chin in hand in the age-old gesture of contemplation and sadness.  Under a Sol Niger a black and white checkerboard floor hints at the reconciliation of opposites while the rope ladders of circus performers suggest ascension and transformation.  Painted in 1955, On the street of chance displays a plethora of gaming equipment, again under a black sun set in an apocalyptic sky.  Aside from any personal meaning for the artist, one cannot help but recall the surrealist love of the role of chance and play in artistic production.

Guccione’s late work is particularly engaging as by then she had condensed the various strains of her work into a singular vision where strong color in combination with her arsenal of symbols attain a lyrical crescendo.  In Vigil (c. 1983) floating ears and eyes accompany a figure seated near stairs (a medium channeling sights and sounds?) – while fantastical orbs of light joyously skim across the vibrant purple background.  By this time the New Age Movement is in full stride and Guccione’s work seems not only to have heralded its coming, but her entire oeuvre can now be understood more respectfully by a population conversant in esoteric color symbolism and cryptic emblems.  Juanita Guccione’s art was undoubtedly ahead of its time, and luckily for us we have the opportunity to fully savor its beauty and more thoughtfully contemplate its layers of meaning.

Junkyard Glass: Turning Trash into Treasure

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Published: 20 November 2013 20 November 2013

As the sound of a diesel engine starts up the opening video of a kickstarter project called Turning Trash into Treasure, we are introduced to glass artist Gary Genetti who is showing us a novel technology drawing on recycled glass. He shares with us his vision for a more sustainable future: turning junked glass into functional household objects like bowls of various sizes, mirrors, clocks, lighting fixtures and whatever else your imagination can think up, design, and create. Even jewelry, which his wife, Mena Messina, is starting to do with their two daughters.

The idea of a resource like glass that can be sourced locally and repurposed almost anywhere in the world is a big part of the vision. Genetti calls it “Activist Art. Art that changes the world. Art  that can be done on a small scale that grows and expands.”

He adds, “It’s also about sustaining myself and my family and to be able to do it in a way that is a model for others. It’s a project with a low tech approach resulting in a beautiful object. Hence the slogan turning trash into treasure.”  

Did you know there was an estimated 12-15 million tons of the type of glass found in commercial buildings, automobiles, and residences that ends up in landfills each year? “As a glassmaker, I knew that there was so much glass that is wasted. “Tempered glass cannot be cut or reconfigured in any way. It can only be shattered and re- melted.” says Genetti.

With the help of his family, he begins his project by carrying the tempered glass off premises from junkyards or receiving donations from local residents. In his studio, we see the process of how recycled glass is turned into objects. He calls it ‘upcycling’ - turning a waste material into a valuable object.

At the studio the glass is broken into tiny pieces and then collected into a bucket, washed and dried.  Then it is plated on a circular window glass which has been edged, placed into a kiln and baked at temperatures above 1400 Farenheit. “One part of the sustainability side of the project is that we use 20% wind energy to heat the kiln.”

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It’s a seemingly simple process, like baking cookies. The end result:  A unique set of functional objects. Like many good ideas, however, the path to simplicity is strewn in a maze of twists and turns bringing together Genetti’s years of ingenuity as a glass artist fused with his consciousness about living in and creating a more sustainable planet, together with the challenge of presenting a glass enterprise that has commercial possibilities.

In the quest to commercialize, this simple act becomes more complicated.

 “The problem with glass is that it’s a cheap resource and it’s not an environmental hazard,” says Genetti. So the first issue we have to confront is the low demand for an easy and cheap resource. It begs the question: Is it worth recycling?

Another obstacle that hampers Genetti is the fact that it has never been done commercially. It’s considered undoable because there is no infrastructure to receive the materials from landfills and junkyards except to go out and collect it oneself. 

So if there was an assignment to do a large scale project, like to fulfill an order to supply the lighting fixtures for the newest sky scraper or hotel that is being erected, it would be hard to project the accessibility of the quantity of recycled glass needed to be collected and processed..

Another complication is whittling down all of the potential objects of creation that lend themselves to more commercial appeal. Genetti’s background has been as an artist, not an industrial designer focused on producing functional objects that have mass appeal.

Finally, finding the inroads for where the products will sell creates another set of challenges. Genetti, who has a background in working trade and craft shows, has had very little experience selling ideas to department stores and home supply chains, where it might be essential to get these products to market on a larger scale.

Despite the hurdles, Genetti marches on, recognizing the steep challenges ahead of him. “My vision for it is to create a business model that would employ returning veterans. The project would be a metaphor for a shattered life fused together. If a lot of people fed into the idea and it blossomed into a bigger possibility, why couldn’t this scenario materialize?”

On the day I visited Genetti, he was getting ready to put another batch of glass into his kiln. “This glass came from a ceramics maker. She and her husband have closed their business and are planning on moving out of the area. They gave me an old shower door.”

Recently Genetti has been commissioned to do several pieces, as he has cultivated a good client list over the years who are still interested in his work.  Although it hasn’t always been easy, he admits that he has been fortunate to do what he has always loved. “I’ve been doing what I love and have been lucky enough to make a living at it. When has there been a time when it was easy for an artist?”

 “We’ll see how this project goes. The next trade show is the buyer’s market in Philadelphia. That will be the proof of whether this is going to fly or not. If it doesn’t, we move on. There is too much investment in time. The show is branding itself as American made and crafted products with a broad based market.”

As I was preparing to leave, Genetti handed me a beautiful bowl made from this recycled glass. “They make great holiday gifts,” says Genetti. We are having a holiday sale. Come on over and invite your friends.”