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“In 1988, I was told that I had eighteen months to live. After twenty-seven years of not being dead, I want to know why.” •••
With a voice that is classical and prospective Daniel Dallabrida moves freely through the realms of process, ritual, installation and artifact. Using sculpture, photography, performance and social gatherings, he encourages people to find themselves in the nonlinear currents of the tales he tells. Starting with beautiful moments and mysterious surfaces Dallabrida reaches for that point where one’s interior and exterior worlds commingle—where story, story-teller and viewer become indistinguishable. •••
Like many of his generation, Dallabrida abandoned his imagined life-path to confront the AIDS epidemic. Then, approaching fifty, he closed the door on an activist’s career and moved to Italy in pursuit of the art, culture and language of his heritage. There he apprenticed at a family foundry near Venice. Attracted by the Tuscan tradition of anti-Fascist sculpture, Dallabrida studied in Florence at Studio Art Centers International. In 2011 he received an MFA at California College of the Arts. •••
Dallabrida’s favors the materials of nature and the phenomena of physics. Clay, water, wood and the body are co-conspirators. He repurposes Renaissance techniques and appropriates contemporary queer street advertising. He mines his personal archives and re-imagines Homer’s Iliad. All are enlisted as backgrounds and characters for the stories he tells. •••
“I approach my art as a scaffolding of possibility. I search for subtlety in the face of awe, permanence in the face of erasure, and wonder in the face of horror.”
EDUCATION •••••
California College of the Arts, MFA, San Francisco, CA, 2011 ••
Studio Art Centers International, Post-Bacc, Florence, IT, 2008 ••
International Centre of Ceramic Art, Certaldo, IT, 2007 ••
Artistica Ferro Foundry, Apprenticeship, Preganziol, Veneto, IT, 2006 ••
Universitá per Stranieri, Italian 2nd Level, Perugia. IT, 2005 ••
Portland State University, BS Intercultural Communications, Portland, OR, 1982 •••••••••••••••••••••
SELECT EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS •••• Access Institute, Spectrum Gala, San Francisco, 2013 •••
ARC Gallery, Structure, San Francisco, CA, 2013 •••
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Dead Still/Achilles in the Castro (performance), Snowmass, CO, 2013 •••
Singapore Institute of Contemporary Art, Land, Singapore, 2012 •••
Magnet, In Now’s black waters burn the stars of Then (Momento Mori), San Francisco, CA, 2012 •••
Magnet, Younger Than Jesus / Older Than AIDS (Performance), San Francisco, CA, 2012 •••
Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, (Odds Are) 13-1, San Francisco, CA, 2011 •••
Artists + Writers, Ουροβόρος/Ouroboros, San Francisco, CA, 2011 •••
Resnick Estate, Achilles Dead is Achilles Still, Healdsburg, CA, 2011 •••
California College of the Arts, Damage is Done / Danno é fatto (performance), San Francisco, CA, 2011 •••
Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Hammarby!, San Francisco, CA, 2011 •••
Bell Guthrie Ranch, To be Traveler and Destination / Essere viaggiatore e destinazione, Mariposa, CA, 2010 •••
TeAmo, Tra le Mie Braccia Dormirai / In My Arms You Will Sleep, Venice, IT, 2009 •••
Festa Internaizonale della Ceramica, Vigilante / Guardian, Montelupo Fiorentino, IT, 2009 •••
City Art Gallery, Queer Art, San Francisco, CA, 2009 •••
La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Traversata Urbana: Una conversazione con il traffico fiorentino, Florence, IT, 2008 •••
Palazzo delle Esposizioni and Museo San Giovanni de’ Fiorentini, L’Arte Dell’Uovo di Pasqua, Rome, IT, 2008 •••
Casellio Ovest di Porta Venezia, Premio Internazionale di Scultura Edgardo Mannucci, Milan, IT, 2008 •••
ArtSpan, Crossings: My Conversations with the River Arno, San Francisco, CA, 2008 •••
Galleria Palazzo dei Cartelloni, Studio Arts Center International, Florence, IT, 2009 •••
La Corte Arte Contemporanea, Buttarsi allo Sbaraglio / Jumping into the Deep End, Florence, IT, 2008 •••
Chiostro di San Francisco, Mannucci International Competition of Sculpture, 15th Edition, Arcevia, IT, 2008 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• SELECT RESIDENCIES, AWARDS, WORKSHOPS •••••
Kala Art Institute, Artist-in-Residence, Berkeley, CA, 2013 ••••
Visual AIDS Grantee, New York City, NY, 2013 ••••
6th Tropical Lab Residency, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore, 2012 ••••
Anderson Ranch Art Center Residency, Snowmass, CO, 2012 ••••
ARAC Board of Trustees Grant, Snowmass, CO, 2012, 2013 ••••
California College of the Arts Visiting Artist, Environmental Art, San Francisco, CA, 2012 ••••
Anderson Ranch Art Center, January Studio Immersive, Snowmass, CO, 2012 ••••
Visual AID Grantee, San Francisco, CA, 2008-2012 ••••
Dennis Leon/Christin Nelson Award, CCA, San Francisco, CA, 2012 ••••
Brooks Fellowship Fund Grantee, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass, CO, 2009, 2011 •••••
New York Summer Residency Program, CCA, San Francisco, CA, 2010 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE ••••
Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, establishing medical infrastructure for HIV care in Rwanda and South Africa. 2001-03 ••••
Dallabrida & Associates, facilitating dialogue and collaboration between HIV/AIDS activists, non-profits, governmental organizations, patient communities and pharmaceutical companies. 1990-2003 ••••