Gratitude
Opening: 8th November 2019

I create with my soul, I let [my] ideas flow…

JD Malat Gallery is proud to present their first solo exhibition by internationally recognised artist Nina Pandolfo, best known for the wide-eyed characters who inhabit her fantastical canvasses and graffitied murals worldwide.

Opening on the 8th of November 2019, Gratitude is a joyful celebration of life and the kaleidoscopic emotions associated with being ‘grateful’. “So many people say that they are grateful for something but don’t live the feeling, they just go through the motions”, Pandolfo says, “[when painting] the strongest thing is the feeling, the feeling is what makes my heart beat faster and my eyes smile as I put it on the canvas…the sound of life, the sound of freedom, the sound of gratitude and simplicity.”.

This exhibition, a project that has been over a year in the making, is closely connected with Pandolfo herself – a reflection of her personal experiences and the vibrantly multicultural world around her. Heavily inspired by women who embrace and embody different cultures, the women in her works are greater than their race-specific traits and instead are more universal. One thing unites these women, their strength and delicacy which form an integral role in Pandolfo’s signature style.

Through Gratitude Pandolfo presents a Universe with no negativity, instead viewing the world around her with a dichotomy of childlike innocence and adult awareness that is so prevalent within her works; displaying the same fascination and enchantment that a child feels whilst discovering something new, and revelling in the small details. Pandolfo’s golden universe includes animals, such as the flamingo in Gratitude, who present an anthropomorphic view of what it truly means to be ‘grateful’. This symbolism, sometimes only discovered once a work is completed, brings each canvas to life, with new layers slowly revealing themselves to the viewer upon further reflection.

Born in 1977, Nina Pandolfo grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, drawing and painting from a young age before discovering graffiti and fully dedicating herself to art at just 14 years old. A student of Visual Communication, Pandolfo followed her bliss in the search for new media and creative freedom, and began tagging on the streets of São Paulo, soon becoming an integral part of the Brazilian graffiti scene in the 90’s and pioneering the way for the more widespread inclusion of graffiti in Museums and Galleries.

Since her first exhibition at the age of 22 (a collective show with the Funarte National Arts Foundation) , Pandolfo has exhibited internationally to incredible success whilst still creating monumental urban projects for Public spaces. One particularly notable commission was a collaboration with Os Gemeos, and Nunca in 2007 to paint the façade and turret of the 800-year-old Kelburn Castle – an endeavour so successful that this ‘temporary’ project was named one of the Top 10 Examples of Street Art by Tristan Manco in 2011 and protected for future generations.

With Gratitude, JD Malat Gallery is proud to announce its exclusive representation of Nina Pandolfo throughout the United Kingdom.

JD Malat Gallery is one of London’s most exciting galleries, showcasing a broad spectrum of international artists and working closely with both private clients and public institutions worldwide. A bastion of taste, eponymous founder Jean-David is often cited as ‘one of the most well -connected men in London’, internationally recognized as a curator and prominent art dealer. Through his vast experience, JD has discovered, promoted and established over a dozen formerly-unknown artists, launching his Mayfair Gallery in June 2018 to great acclaim.

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www.jdmalat.com

Cittadino Nel Mondo is an art collective and art residency program that hosts a small group of artists from around the world. Cittadino Nel Mondo residencies are 'pop-up residency's', created in different locations around the world from the far east like Japan to Italy and other locations. The founder of Cittadino Nel Mondo, Natalia Bieganska, is an artist who has travelled the world extensively and has been deeply inspired by local cultures. As a result of her travels, Natalia has a strong mission to connect artists from different countries and backgrounds. Art for her is a new language, universal in nature, breaking down any cultural differences.

This year's residency will take place in Italy, the birthplace of some of the most famous artists in history.

The Italy program will support the artist to disconnect from city life and work on their art in a warm and rustic setting in the Italian countryside. The program is based in the small village Campagnano di Roma, which is located roughly 45 minutes from Rome and easily accessible by car or train. Campagnano di Roma was on the Via Francigena in medieval times, an ancient road running from France to Rome. The area is filled with ancient Roman and Etruscan history; the energy of painters, sculptors and other makers of the past can almost be smelt in the air.

Each Cittadino Nel Mondo program implies a theme that fits well with the surrounding region and culture. Besides the creative aspect, a core mission of Cittadino Nel Mondo in Campagnano is to take care of nature by teaching artist about sustainability, raising awareness of the local environment, and the production of healthy local foods. Artists will participate and learn about olive oil farming and production from the local Italian family.

The residency will be hosted at a property that provides a quiet, comfortable and rustic setting for artists to create and focus their energies. Overlooking the Italian countryside and olive oil trees, the property offers ample room for the artist to work in a very private setting. During the month-long program, the artist will not only retreat from the routines and pressures of everyday life but will also meet new art collectors and enjoy farm to table Italian food and, of course, wine.

Signe Pierce is a multimedia artist whose work straddles performance, photography, video, theory, social media, light design and installation. As a self-described "reality artist", Pierce's work is inspired by the concept of reality being an artistic medium, and that an artist's life can be viewed within a similar context as an artist's work. As a writer, performer, and theorist, she is known for using humor, seduction, technology, science and current events to unpack the various paradoxes of perception and existence within an increasingly simulated world, as well as working to discern what is considered "real" within a burgeoning era of technological singularity.

Over the last few years, Pierce has partaken in multiple performances, installations, screenings, and exhibitions, including solo shows at Times Square Space in New York, Annka Kultys Gallery in London, and Galerie Nathalie Halgand in Vienna, as well as a screening + performance at the Museum of Modern Art, US, and an artist's talks at Yale University, University of Colorado, and Southern Methodist University. She is the star and co-creator of the acclaimed short film, American Reflexxx, which has received multiple awards and has been screened in over 15 countries.

Castator's large-scale oil paintings bring us into a twisted version of today's social reality. Each is a gruesome, cartoon-like collage with graphically distorted figures, packed into vivid scenes of debauchery. By heightening what is already grotesque and salacious about party culture, substance abuse, harassment, and violence override the casual vice. The more disturbing the scenario, the more macabre its actors. This is a world of extremes, from the overloaded content to the work's strong narrative impulse to the bright and bold aesthetic that Castator never shies from. 



Digital processes give the work its copy-paste quality. Preparatory drawings are executed on an iPad, where compositional elements can be readily resized, moved, deleted, or restored. Imagery is often culled from personal or found photos. Exuberant patterns and a melange of textures, whether they are superflat or perspectivally perfect, commingle with humor and ease. 


Canyon Castator (b. 1989) is a Los Angeles-based painter. In 2013, he was invited to be a resident at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he studied with Tal R. He is originally from Boulder, Colorado.