About the Artist
Claudio Valenti is an Italian artist based in Sydney. Claudio Valenti was born in Italy where despite an early interest in drawing, he graduated with a Master in Gregorian Chant and Choral Director, before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1999 where he continues to work as a music teacher and composer. His visual arts practice embraces the disciplines of painting, drawing and photography. Valenti feels they all strongly relate and co-exist together. In art, as in his music, he is driven by the suggestive rather than the immediate, depicting imaginary landscapes where texture and light play a dominating role.
He draws inspiration from the environment that surrounds him, the everyday life. He is an interpreter of what he sees, leaving ample space to the unexpected and the imagination. Valenti’s art practice has the tendency to blur the boundaries between painting and drawing.
I have always been attracted to the use of raw materials. I work on the utilitarian panels that surface our ordinary environments… The rhythm of everyday life is fast and overwhelming… beauty can easily pass by unnoticed… we need to learn how to look, how to see… and to recognise.. to learn to look at things differently. Using lithographic ink on melamine panel, together with a repetitious process of adding and scraping back, using only a printmaking roller, kitchen papers and scraping tools, has allowed me to blur the boundaries between painting and drawing (and), above all… to search for beauty even where it may not seem to exist.
Claudio Valenti, August 2019
Solo exhibitions 2023: 'Landscapes of my Heart' 2023, Artsite Contemporary Galleries, Sydney NSW Group exhibitions 2024: Finalist, KAAF Art Prize, Korea-Australia Arts Foundation, Sydney NSW 2024: Packsaddle 2024, New England Regional Art Gallery and Museum (NERAM), Armidale NSW 2024: Autumn 2024, Artsite Contemporary Galleries, Sydney NSW 2023: Packsaddle 2023, New England Regional Art Gallery and Museum (NERAM), Armidale NSW 2022: Packsaddle 2022, New England Regional Art Gallery and Museum (NERAM), Armidale NSW 2021: Collectors Choice, 2021 Artsite Galleries, Sydney NSW 2020: Collectors Choice, 2020 Artsite Galleries, Sydney NSW 2020: Packsaddle 2020, New England Regional Art Gallery and Museum (NERAM), Armidale NSW 2019: Packsaddle 2019, New England Regional Art Gallery and Museum (NERAM), Armidale NSW 2019: Introductions, Artsite Galleries, Sydney NSW 2019: Shortlisted, CUPODY Dan on-line Close-up photographer of the year 2014: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2010: Glebe Art Show, Sydney NSW 2010: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2009: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2009: Finalist, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Sydney Awards
2024: Finalist, KAAF Art Prize, Korea-Australia Arts Foundation, Sydney NSW 2024: Finalist, Harden Art Prize, Murrumburrah, NSW 2019: Shortlisted, CUPODY Dan, on-line Close-up photographer of the year 2014: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2010: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2009: Finalist, Waverly Art Prize, Sydney NSW 2009: Finalist, Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing, Sydney NSW
Media
https://www.artsite.com.au/exhibition/2019-09-introductions.php https://www.artsite.com.au/whats-on-now/
