October 2006

When Pescara, Italy, native Sandro Del Rosario came to MacDowell last year to work on his experimental animation, he anticipated that his art would be supported by the very things MacDowell has become known for: uninterrupted time, an ideal work space, and a profound respect for the creative process. What he didn’t know, however, was that he would receive much more than that from his residency experience, including a new friendship that would eventually lead to a collaborative project.

Within minutes of arriving at MacDowell, Del Rosario — a Fulbright scholar and graduate of the experimental animation program at CalArts — was introduced to Lucio Gregoretti, a composer from Rome who was also a first-time Colonist. The two soon discovered that their work shared certain similarities despite coming from different artistic disciplines. “We realized we had something in common in our work,” says Del Rosario. “We both use the Italian arts traditions in new ways.”

This blending of different approaches, both old and new, is central to Del Rosario’s animation work. Using existing photographs — which he retouches with tools such as computer software and pastel paint — he relies on colors and images to communicate his vision, which often relates to his homeland. “It’s a special way to look at Italian beauty,” he explains. “The editorial and visual background of my work is very Italian or European.”

The traditions of opera and melodrama are the roots of Gregoretti’s work, which consists mostly of stage, orchestral, chamber, vocal, and electronic pieces that have been performed throughout Europe. A graduate of Rome’s Conservatorio Statale di Musica, he has also written theatre scores, musical comedies, and film scores.

Contemplating the similarities between his and Gregoretti’s work, Del Rosario asked Gregoretti to write music for his film in progress, “Lo Sguardo Italiano” (The Italian Gaze). With this short film, Del Rosario — who describes it as “an impressionistic journey of colors, rhythms, and composition of elements” — hopes to show not only the beauty of his country, but also its “cultural and moral decay.” For Gregoretti, it is precisely this duality that makes his role challenging. “I am trying to write a piece of music that contains this kind of beauty — one that has a sensation of a bad thing inside of it,” he elaborates.

Currently in residence at MacDowell working on this and other projects, Del Rosario and Gregoretti will come together yet again for this month’s MacDowell Downtown presentation. Del Rosario will show two short films: “Train,” a one-minute frame-by-frame animation recapturing a journey through the Italian countryside; and “L.City,” an eight-minute exploration of the issues of loss of love, memories, and place. Recently screened at MoMA in New York, “L.City” has an upcoming show scheduled at the Red Cat Theater in Los Angeles on October 7th. Gregoretti will play pieces from his opera “Il Piccolo Cantone,” which was presented in Bergamo, Italy, in 2005; as well as a piece for small orchestra that he wrote in July.

Del Rosario is insistently grateful for all the many wonderful things — including friendship and collaboration — that have come from his time at MacDowell. “The time, space, and inspiration provided at MacDowell have had an enormous value for me,” he says. “Thanks to MacDowell, Lucio and I met, and thanks to MacDowell we’re working on this project together.”