For Immediate Release NICOLA VERLATO: ZERO GRAVITY Exhibition Dates: August 11 – September 1, 2012 Opening Reception: Saturday, August 11, 8-11pm Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6pm Merry Karnowsky Gallery 170 S. La Brea Avenue (in the ART 170 Building) Los Angeles, CA 90036 (323) 933-4408 Merry Karnowsky Gallery is proud to present Zero Gravity , a new solo exhibition by Nicola Verlato . Painting in the hyper-realistic style h e has become known for, Verlato exercises his virtuosic hand and classical eye to produce masterworks of choreographed chaos. In Verlato’s newest series of paintings, his brush excises gravity as the fundamental force underpinning every aspect of earthly existence. The onset of catastrophic change strikes amid intricate and often intriguingly in complete narratives, without mercy for resolution or the importance and weight we grant flesh, blood and matter. As the supreme deity in the universe of his paintings , Verlato revels in the power and the beauty of turning a world upside down. If gravity is the force that keeps us in our places and stoops us in supplication with the passage of time, then through his paintings, Verlato benevolently grants us “the illusion of liberation from the most constrictive of all the physical laws”. - - - Nicola Verlato was born in the countryside of Verona, Italy, in what he describes as ‘near isolation”. Surrounded by art books, classical music, and the animals on his parents’ farm. He began painting at age 7 and was selling work by age 9. At 10 years of age, he began to study drawing and painting under Fra Terenzio, a monk painter at the Friars of Lonigo monastery. Verlato considers this period the most important in his art education. Trained in Classical music, he also studied lute and composition at the conservatories of Verona and Padua. Verlato’s work has shown internationally in venues such as the Venice Biennale, Prague Biennale, Sandretto re Rebaudengo foundation in Turin, MART in Rovereto, Victoria Memorial Hall Calcutta, and in numerous spaces in Italy, Germany, Norway, Holland, and the United States. His work has been featured in publications including Flash Art, Juxtapoz, Hi Fructose, & Lodown. His first monograph will be published by Ginko in 2012. For more information, please contact Merry Karnowsky at [email protected] , 323.933.4408 Press Contact: Jessica O’Dowd [email protected] 170 S. LA BREA AVENUE • LOS ANGELES 90036 • (323) 933 4408 • www.mkgallery.com .