https://www.pressenza.com/.../homage-a-poem-and-ten.../

Homage: A Poem and Ten Haikus in Loving Memory

Professor and MFA program founder Lewis Warsh is far back - near the left. His Long Island University students surround him... He has his arm around me too.

BROWN MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH 

Rev. Clinton M. Miller, Pastor

484 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238 * 718-638-6121 * info@brownmemorialbaptist.org

             Press Release: FOr Immediate Release                                                 

Brown Memorial Baptist Church (BMBC) welcomes you to its Fellowship Hall for viewing of the Crucifixion Art Exhibition. Paintings featured in the exhibit are by Italian artist, Floriano Vecchi. A recorded interview, featuring his model (Alan Champion) of twenty-years, will be made available as part of the exhibit.

(May 2, 2021 - Brooklyn, NY) Four paintings by avant-gardist, artist, Floriano Vecchi, who played a significant role in the evolution of Figurative and Abstract Expressionism, were gifted to Brown Memorial Baptist Church by The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, Casa Italiana, Columbia University in January of 2019. Vecchi, the founder of the inimitable Tiber Press, was instrumental in ushering in Pop Art, and teaching Andy Warhol the art of silk-screening.

Vecchi executed a series of life-sized, religious, figurative works, including a triptych of the Last Supper (1980) in which the same model posed as Christ and all twelve disciples, as well as one of the Crucifixion (1982) with Christ and the two thieves, and the “Reposition” (1981), again, with the same model as each individual. Revolutionary and pioneering, the paintings are atypical and progressive in their depiction of religiosity and the portrayal of a black Christ, with doppelgangers as his disciples in the most pivotal events in Christianity.

“My collaboration/corroboration with Floriano on the paintings was one of the most transcendent times in my life - that the paintings were executed with passion, love and ingenuity, and, remain a sustaining homage to Floriano Vecchi’s compassion, benevolence and inimitable, virtuosity,” said model Alan Champion.

A venerated and highly sought-after printer and publisher, Vecchi, who often interfaced with Alfred Leslie, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler, was an academically trained artist from Pianuro, near Bologna, Italy. He lived for many years in New York City with his partner, Richard Miller, and died at the age of eighty in 2005.

This exhibit was curated by the BMBC Fine Arts Group. For press inquiries please contact:

Amyre Loomis at 646.201.8183. For other comments contact: Wendy Thorbourne at 646.201.8382, as well as BMBCfineartsgroup@gmail.com.

Who: Brown Memorial Baptist Church What: Floriano Vecchi paintings on display to view When: Sundays between 12 PM and 2 PM, or by appointment Where: Brown Memorial Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 52 Gates Avenue 11am Sunday service is held in the church Sanctuary located at 484 Washington Avenue

The Romanesque Revival style church built in 1860 on the corner of Washington and Gates avenues was acquired by Brown Memorial Baptist Church in 1958. Currently listed on the New York State National Registers and the New York City Historic Districts, BMBC notably features Tiffany Studio stained glass windows. In 2011, The New York Landmarks Conservancy recognized Brown Memorial’s sanctuary restoration for the success of historic preservation, as well as for the Brown Memorial Baptist Church congregation’s role in the economic, social, and cultural vitality of New York City.

Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Landmark Church in Historic Clinton Hill

Our Core Values: Providence, Prayer, People, Preparation, and Progress