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Volf Roitman
Barcelona Spain - 1997 Biography Painter, sculptor, novelist, playwright, cineaste, Volf Roitman was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1930, from Russian parents. In 1936 his family moved to Buenos Aires where Roitman studied architecture and edited the cult magazine Poesia Buenos Aires (1950-51). In 1951, Roitman moved to Paris, where he founded with Arden Quin the MADI Research Study Center, which was visited by the tout-Paris art world throughout the '50's. Many of Roitman's works of this period - rigorous, architecturally - inspired paintings with cut-out frames - are today in museum collections. From 1958 to 1961, Roitman lived in New York City, where he created the Icon Theatre group and produced several plays, including his own what or who. In May of 1960, he directed Georg Buchner's "Leonce and Lena" at the Orpheum Theater, where he showed many of his paintings. In the '80's, Roitman began making highly personal 3-dimensional cardboard cut-outs with glass or Plexiglas frames, some with complex metal supports. His latest innovation is the use of laser technology to express the same intricacy and lightness of his paper work in colorful metal sculptures. Roitman's work has been featured in over 100 MADI group and one-man shows, gallery and museum exhibitions, art fairs and auctions on four continents. In September 1996 at the Albuquerque Museum (New Mexico), Roitman gave a conference in which he introduced his philosophy of MADI-LUDICO architecture, the concept of which grew out of his work with 3-dimensional collages and laser-cut sculpture. The same computer program can produce an almost inexhaustible series of asymmetric and colorful exterior panels, thus the threadbare concept of the "module" that ruled architecture from the time of ancient Egypt. A month later he obtained a commission to design and build a model sculpture for a MADI-LUDICO building destined for a site in downtown Dallas. The model itself was selected for exhibition in the vast historical retrospective ARTE MADI that ran from July 1st to late October 1997 at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. In February 1998, Roitman set up a workshop outside of Tampa, Florida. From October 17th to November 14, 1999, special attention was given to his work in "DA MADI A MADI", a vast retrospective of historical and contemporary works at the Civica Galleria d' Arte Moderna de Gallarate, Milano Italy. This Museum has since opened a wing to display its permanent MADI collection. From November 11th to December 12th 1999, Roitman presented a personal show at the Sarasota Visual Art Center in Sarasota Florida. At the beginning of January 2001 Volf Roitman has received several grants: From the Palmer Foundation, Houston, Texas, and the Odysseus Foundation, Florida to commission a sculpture for the garden of the Gulf Coast Museum in Largo, Florida. From the Pollock-Krasner Foundation which awarded the grant "because of the exceptional quality of your work and the extent artistic acheivement". From the Masterson Foundation, Dallas Texas for the commission of two new sculptures experimenting with varying effects of light and movement. From August 18th to October 21, 2001. The Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland Florida presented "Outside the Box", Eleven International MADI Artists featuring Carmelo Arden Quinn and Volf Roitman from the Masterson and Lenherr Collections. First retrospective in the U.S.A. of the artists featured including contemporary works of nine other MADI artists from France, Italty, Hungry, Netherlands, U.S.A. and Venezuela The same exhibition traveled to the Gulf Coast Museum in Largo, Florida from November 30th to January 27, 2002. Roitman has served as both head of Communications and Archivist of the MADI movement since 1992. Recent Exhibitions: Portobello Restaurant, Miami, Florida, “Playing MADI”, series of collages and drawings.Solo show from December 11th, 2001, to January 15, 2002.
South Art Gallery, Miami, Florida, “Prelude to Playful MADI Art.” Solo show from December 8th, 2001 to January 4th, 2002.
Photo from the Rhoda Newberry Reed Gallery, Gulf Coast Museum, Largo Florida.
St. Petersburg Times Review 12-7-2001 Link St. Petersburg Times Review 12-13-2001 Link Gulf Coast Museum Of Art 12211 Walsingham Road Largo, Florida 33778 (727) 518-6833
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