The past few years have been intense for artist Joseph Di Bella.
He had serious illness to contend with, a knock-down ailment that required two hospitalizations and wore 50 pounds off his slight frame.
Even worse than facing his own mortality was fearing for one of his adult sons, a Marine captain who completed two tours of duty in Iraq.
Di Bella, a distinguished professor of art at the University of Mary Washington, came through his illness and saw his son return home safely. But as major life events do, the experiences changed him.
Those transformations found their way into two of his recent works–one on display through Oct. 5 at UMW’s duPont Gallery and one to be seen Wednesday through Sept. 19 at Washington’s Corcoran College of Art and Design.
‘AUTORITRATTO’
The piece now at UMW is a self-portrait in which Di Bella reflects on his internal and external changes from age 17–when he was an idealistic high school senior in New Jersey–to now, at age 58.
The 21-panel installation was based on a photograph Di Bella found when rummaging through old pictures of sons Mark, now 32, and Phillip, 29.
"I saw this photo of myself and I thought, ‘My gosh, they do resemble me.’"
Still recovering from illness, Di Bella felt removed from that hopeful teenager gazing out of the black-and-white photo. But he also recognized that kid and felt a fondness for him.
DiBella made a line drawing from that photo, then scanned and photocopied the drawing, each time adding a layer of distance between the artist now and the artist then.
He transferred the photocopy ink onto several gessoed sheets of rag paper, then enhanced the images with silver-point–a pre-graphite pencil technique that dates to the Renaissance or before.
The medium itself is metaphoric–the silver tarnishes and darkens over time, so the image is always changing, just as people are in constant change.
The central image in the installation shows Di Bella as he looks now. The technique was the same–transferred photocopy on gessoed paper–but instead of a mostly black-and-white image this one is rendered in full color in egg tempera.
Di Bella stares directly at the viewer, but there’s no challenge in his gaze.
Instead, he looks a bit baffled.
"I think I look kind of startled that I am where I am," he explained. "Yeah, I am. I’m startled."
‘NEUTRALIZED’
It’s fitting that the Corcoran College exhibition featuring Di Bella’s "Neutralized" takes place Wednesday through Sept. 19.
The artist’s younger son, Phillip, was newly married and had a good job when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks happened. Less than a year later, he was in officer candidate school with the Marine Corps.
Di Bella created this 60-panel work in 2007 as a way of dealing with Capt. Phillip Di Bella’s second tour of duty in Iraq.
Dealing with his own illness and his worry for his son, Di Bella couldn’t help but dwell upon the young servicemen and women who didn’t make it home.
The military term "neutralized" resonated, and it also guided Di Bella’s work.
He used the New York Times’ Web site remembering the fallen and searched for service members with "neutral" last names–White, Black, Gray, Brown, Bland, Ivory–and variations.
He made a series of drawings based on highly pixillated images from that Web site, then used a transfer-on-gesso technique to further abstract and obscure the images.
He changed the images yet again using dry washes in earth pigments, in many cases adding materials symbolic of funeral rituals such as lily pollen, incense ashes and myrrh.
Di Bella used red-toned underpainting reminiscent of Byzantine icons to give the individual panels an appearance both ancient and timeless.
And in addition to silver-point, the pencil-like material that changes color over time, he used gold point as well, an unchanging medium that represents the soul.
Taken as a whole, the 60-panel installation doesn’t so much depict specific individuals as symbolize the more than 4,000 men and women who gave their lives.
Di Bella and his wife, Phyllis, are grateful that their son made it home, twice.
"I think of my boy and how I felt when he was away," Di Bella said.
And he thinks of those killed, and of lives not fully lived.
"I can’t imagine what their spouses and parents are going through."
Di Bella’s self-portrait installation "Autoritratto" can be seen at the duPont Gallery on the campus of the University of Mary Washington through Oct. 5. It’s part of an exhibition called "Virginia Painters: Process Unveiled," which includes works of several other artists.
"Neutralized," a work remembring fallen servicemen and women in Iraq, is part of an exhibit Sept. 10-19 at the White Walls Gallery of the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington. Di Bella’s UMW colleagues Rosemary Jesionowski, Carole Garmon and Lorene Nickel also will show works at the Corcoran College gallery.
What: "Autoritatto," Joseph Di Bella’s work in the exhibit "Virginia Painters: Process Unveiled" Where: UMW’s duPont Gallery, College Avenue at Thornton Street When: Through Oct. 4. Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Admission: Free
Info: For more information on the UMW exhibits hours and times, see umw.edu/umwgal leries or call 654-1013.
For information and directions to the UMW faculty exhibit at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, call 202/639-1801.