Philomena Marano

Black Beauty meets the Rainbow Reef whimsical, colorful undersea cut paper

2024

Philomena was raised in Brooklyn, just a stone’s throw from America’s most famous amusement park, Coney Island. She is most known for cut paper collage and limited edition prints in her acclaimed collection, “American-Dream-Land” in which she depicts both personal and universal themes in the rides, signs and attractions of her childhood playground. In 2017 , a move to Florida shifted her attention to the circus thrill shows of Sarasota. The precision, exhilaration and wonder embedded in the spectacle of these performances were a definite reminder of the fun and danger of the wondrous mechanical constructions in Coney Island; a continuity of earlier sensibilities. She acquired and honed her cut paper skills while working as an assistant to preeminent artist Robert Indiana in his New York studio on a prodigious cut paper project rendering set and costume designs for “The Mother of Us All”, Santa Fe Opera. In 2020, she was invited to give artist talks at the MFA St. Pete’s, FL. on her experiences working on the project in an exhibition titled: Art of the Stage: Picasso to Hockney where many of Indiana’s stage designs from “Mother” were displayed. Marano is co-founder of the Coney Island Hysterical Society, earned a BFA from Pratt Institute , and has been included in numerous galleries including Tabla Rasa Gallery, Brooklyn ,NY, ACA Gallery, NY, New York, Deutsche Bank, NY, New York, The DeLand Museum of Art, FL., Ringling College of Art & Design, Sarasota, FL., and the Art Center Sarasota. Her work is featured in Charles Denson’s book, “Coney Island, Lost and Found,” Ten Speed Press, 2002, SRQ magazine, 2021 , Luxe Interior + Design, 2021, Between 2Two Shores, a UK based Literary & Art publication, 2021, among others and is in many private and corporate collections including the Brooklyn Museum.