Nick Masiello is a fan of irony. He maintains that large corporations use luxury labels to promote the have/have not construct that distracts people from recognizing the role these companies play in funding foreign conflicts. He hopes that his solo show at DAAS CO-OP next month brings awareness to the ethical dilemma implicated by this growing financial divide. Yet, he concedes that the artworks in the show are playful, bright, beautiful and luxurious.
“The plight of man shall be told through high art and couture fashion,” Masiello predicted.
The exhibition is open Nov. 6-29.
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The DAAS press release announcing the show states that it “aims to show a parallel between big brands and the military industrial complex and its funding of a forever war in the world.”
“Most of large corporations and known labels have ties to funding wars and human suffering, with the general population being completely unaware,” Masiello maintained. “Luxury is thrown at us through constant advertising to keep us distracted and consuming products. Instead of funding peace and prosperity, society has bought into the ‘have/have not’ construct and give their waning earnings to gigantic corporations — all in the name of looking more impressive with their friends, while strangers they pass by struggle to survive, while children pass away in the foreign wars they helped to fund.”
An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6, from 5:30 to 9 p.m.
DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery is at 10051 McGregor Blvd. (Suite 104) on the Alliance for the Arts campus.
The gallery’s hours are Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and first Fridays from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
For more information, visit daascoop.com or telephone 239-955-0422.
About artist Nick Masiello
Nick Masiello was born in Dover, Delaware, and moved to Southwest Florida as a young child.
He received his bachelor’s degree in art from Florida Gulf Coast University in spring 2012 and remains active in the local arts scene, working with several renowned artists and galleries in the area curating, installing, and transporting art.
In 2013, he became one of the founding members of Bootleggers Gallery — a pop-up art gallery at Art Walk and Music Walk where the artists take home 100% of their profits.
In 2015, he cofounded the Syzygy Collaborative Art Project with artist Danielle Branchaud and has remained active in the years since. These two artists share studio space at DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery.
Masiello has exhibited in Miami Art Basel, the Biennale Sydney in Australia, Museum of Outdoor Arts Denver, Florida Gulf Coast University, Alliance for the Arts, DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery, Unit A Gallery, Tincture Gallery, HW Gallery, Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center, Arts Bonita, AC Hotel Tampa, Otherside Ink Gallery, Howl Gallery and Dysfunctional Grace Gallery,
He created a mural for Vice News Miami in 2014 as well as several murals since in Fort Myers and Sarasota.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
