As an artist, Ioana Mamali is a bit of a time-traveler. Her paintings - literally her paints - have that look of early School of Paris modernism. Duchamp is once said to have disliked the smell of paints, as if that olfactory sense could cloud some higher meaning in a painting. Yet her sense of the importance of history is pure 21st century. There is no issue here, however, since Mamali's figurative work blends history, literature, politics, and (yes) the history of modernism. The subtitle of the show, Visual Narratives, is apt. There is a story here in each picture, and the artist has chosen to be the sole story-teller. We see through her filter, alone. Now if you're not up on your Ionesco or Kafka or Brancusi, you might want to do a quick consult with Google. These literary and artistic greats of the 20th century are at home with Mamali. It's like she has invited these unique figures (even Myanmar's jailed pacifist, Aung San Suu Kyi) to an afternoon tea. And these are no lightweights. I'd love to sit and converse with that great existentialist, Camus, but frankly, I'm just a bit scared. There is a bit of sitting on the edge of your seat to these paintings. It is true, as the show's title demonstrates, what you see is what might be. For me, this show is a kind of homecoming because there are my friends and acquaintances, though I haven't seen or thought about them for some time. Art can jog your memory that way sometimes.

It is our privilege to mount this mini retrospective of Ioana Mamali's work. These are works, undoubtedly, that the artist has wrestled with. And we will, too. Thanks go to Dr. Annalee Ward, Director of the Wendt Center, who made the artist's work known to me, and to Noah Bullock, Coordinator of the Gallery, for hanging the show. We hope you enjoy the catalog which was funded, in part, by a grant from alumni Judi and Bill Crandall.

Alan Garfield, Director Bisignano Art Gallery