PERFORMED PAINTINGS
‘Living Paintings’ as performance art and theatre.
This was a specialisation in the work of Chris Channing for a decade or so.
(Similar to the work of Cindy Sherman but performed live and moving.)
These ‘Living Paintings’ or “Quadri Vivi” were unique in Europe.
Seen in ‘theatrical’ or salon settings for a seated and silent audience,
the frame and tableau would be unveiled and a performance would follow.
Confined to a frame of 70cm x 90cm.
30 minutes of silent physical 3-dimensional drama like an extended operatic aria:
i.e. one emotional situation or thought drawn out, amplified and ‘treated’.
They were also seen at theatre and music festivals, private events in galleries and museums
(The Louvre in Paris, The Museum of Modern Art in Bologna, The da Vinci Science Museum in Milan, etc),
at events such as the United Nations Climate Summit, and over 50 guest appearances on Italian television.
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( Gallery Below )
– Vincent van Gogh: ‘Self-Portrait’
– Vincent van Gogh: ‘Portrait of the postman of Arles, Monsieur Roulin’
– Pablo Picasso: ‘Harlequin au Bar Lapin Agile’
– René Magritte: Son of Man
– Leonardo da Vinci: ‘The Girl with the Ermine’
(commissioned by actor Ottavia Piccolo for a private performance).
Four commissioned by RAI Television.
– Georges Braque: “Portrait of a man”
– Toulouse-Lautrec: ‘Portrait of William Warrener’
– Henri Matisse: Portrait of Madame Matisse
– Caravaggio: Bacchus Unwell
and
– The ‘Mona Lisa Man’, a physical comedy act.
