Who is JeanPaul Mallozzi as a person as well as an artist?

A big dork who likes to tell stories.

How would you describe your art?

There is a little crumb of personal experience with each piece, not just from my life, but others that are around me.

You have a quite distinct style where you cover faces with water colors. When did you first start this technique?

I’ve been working with it for a few years now. It came while I was making a body of a work for a show, and the work was very labour intensive and I had a mood swing in my apartment. I thought it would be a cool idea to illustrate a mood swing, but combining my love of rendering with my admiration for abstract art.

You signed with the Margulies Agency. What prompted the decision and what is in the planning?

I have seen what Michael Margulies has been doing for a few years now with some of the artists he is currently representing, and it has been good work. His family’s involvement with art is well known, but I admired him taking a new step into actually finding new artists and working to give them great opportunities for exposure to a broader audience. After he saw one of my pieces shown at David Castillo’s Invitational last year, he asked to sign with him. That was an easy decision to make.

Tell us about your August solo show at 101/Exhibit in Miami.

It’s my first solo show and I’ve been working my ass off for it and its entitled kN0B0DY, it involves relationships and individual trials. It’s mostly mixed media works on paper.

Can you elaborate more on the art we’ll see?

“Spring Never Falls” is the biggest piece I’ve made to date. It’s 8ft feet long. The piece is about bullying, particularly girls bullying. I don’t want to give too much away, cause I want people to come see it.

What’s the hardest part about putting together a solo show?

Aside from the money one has to spend?! Making sure you have a solid body of work, that each piece can stand on its own, but also can work as a family when put in the same space.

Have you ever seen an exhibition that changed your outlook on life?

Not an exhibition, but one or two single pieces of work. Correggio’s “Jupiter and Io” I’ve loved since I was 10, and while I was living in Vienna, I was about to leave the museum and I decided to take check out one room which I thought I missed, and I just happened to see it in there, and I flipped out. Also saw Bernini’s “Apollo and Daphne” in Rome and I cried a little. I totally admit it.

Do you have any anecdote or more news you would like to share with us?

I just learned how to play darts a few days ago and now I’m a tad bit obsessed. Also, there is a possibility of my work being seen during one of the big fairs at Art Basel (Miami Beach) later this year.

What is your artistic interpretation of a Wonderland?

I think it would be something like living in that film “Amelie,” where the music is really good, the colors are saturated, and I find myself playing freeze tag with friends in the day, and eating junk food and playing video games at night.

KN0B0DY will open at 101/Exhibit gallery in Miami’s Design District on August 10th between 6pm – 10pm.

Words: Heike Dempster

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