Exhibit runs from: MARCH 17 – JUNE 30, 2019

LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA, USA, March 12, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- – Chiachio & Giannone will open their exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) on Sunday, March 17, 2019. The Argentinian textile artists Leo Chiachio (Banfield, 1969) and Daniel Giannone (Córdoba, 1964) began their careers as painters and later moved into hand-stitched embroidery. They live and work together in Buenos Aires.


Chiachio & Giannone test the extreme limits of embroidery. Their work embodies a dazzling variety of stitches and a mix of old and vintage fabrics, garnered from friends and family, and new pieces gathered on their travels. The result is work that incorporates an array of color, elements of magical realism, a sense of humour and demonstrates an encyclopaedic knowledge and mastery of stitch and a sensitivity to social change.

Celebrating Diversity is an exhibition-in-progress. It was first showcased at the CCK in Buenos Aires as part of the 2018 exhibition Democracy Under Construction. The work is comprised of two artistic projects: Family in 6 Colors – a set of textile mosaics – and Pride Flags - a group of flags created in collaboration with artist Cecilia Koppmann and members of the visiting audience. Paying tribute to renowned international and Argentinian artists who have worked to promote gender diversity, this work questions the stereotypes that govern social bonds and artistic codes. Here, the family is represented by a constellation of creators united by art and their belonging to the LGBTIQ+ community, whose emblems are the six colors that appear in the background of the ensemble.

Throughout their work, Chiachio & Giannone have combined artisanal techniques and crafts and skills of a domestic nature with everyday materials, even including their own garments. Their pieces, which range from small formats to large-scale installations, revisit and problematize techniques and procedures commonly associated with the so-called minor arts and feminine practices such as embroidery, textile printing, mosaics and porcelain.

Combining game and fantasy, children's entertainment and utopian illusions that blur limitations, Chiachio & Giannone highlight the value of diversity and overcoming gender distinctions. Portraits are the most recurrent element in their works: self-portraits in which they are depicted in disguise against backgrounds of profuse vegetation and a multiplicity of colors. These are family portraits; they feature themselves, their colleagues and of course, their dogs, all of them inseparable figures of their history and repertoire of images.

“A distinctive aspect of MOLAA is that we embrace ground breaking art from a wide array of communities. We believe art is inclusive and not exclusive. The impressive work of Chiachio & Giannone and the way they combine traditional with modern art epitomizes our direction in terms of artistic integrity,” stated MOLAA’s President & CEO, Dr. Lourdes Ramos.

“To present for the first time the Argentinean artistic duo at a prestigious institution such as MOLAA is of capital importance as it builds bridges that create new bonds. It generates alliances for all contemporary Latin American artists. Particularly in this exhibition, different experiences are merged in a unique tribute to all those who worked in favor of gender diversity,” mentions Gabriela Urtiaga, Chief Curator of Visual Arts, CCK Buenos Aires / Argentina.

“The Board of Directors of AIDS Food Store is truly honored to be part of Chiachio & Giannone's Celebration of diversity. We are beyond thrilled to retire our pride flag for 2019, and instead be carrying a work of art.”

Jean Hartman, President of the Board of Directors AIDS Food Store, Long Beach, CA.

Chiachio & Giannone will continue these projects in the galleries of the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), where the rooms of the museum become spaces in which visitors can both participate in the creation of the pieces and watch the artists at work. In this way, the exhibition is transformed into an exchange of individual and collective desires that challenges the way history is constructed and makes way for new identities.

The artist are inviting the public to donate fabric from old clothes, bed sheets, fabric scraps to use as the building materials for the pride flags and mosaic collages, making them personal and meaningful to the community.

MOLAA gratefully acknowledges the following for their generous sponsorship of Chiachio & Giannone: Celebrating Diversity :

· Schulman-Neri Foundation

· Joan A. Friedman, Ph.D. & Robert N. Braun, M.D.

· Consulate General and Promotion Center of the Argentine Republic

· Sistema Federal de Medios y Contenidos Públicos de la República Argentina

· Barbara and Zach Horowitz


The programming for this exhibition is supported by the following organizations:

· Arts Council of Long Beach

· Long Beach Forward

· AIDS Food Store

· University Arts Museum at California State University, Long Beach



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About the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA)

The Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) was founded in 1996 in Long Beach, California and serves the greater Los Angeles area. MOLAA is the only museum in the United States dedicated to modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino art. In 2007, MOLAA unveiled its newly renovated and expanded campus designed by prominent Mexican architect, Manuel Rosen. The expansion more than doubled the Museum's size, adding a 15,000-square foot sculpture garden. With its physical expansion complete, MOLAA’s focus is on strengthening its collection, which now includes over 1,600 works of art and maintaining its position as a multidisciplinary institution providing cross-cultural dialogue.


For More Information: mike@ileanainternational.com or 310-913-0625.

Mike Mena
Museum of Latin American Art
+1 310-316-0612
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