Tullio Francesco DeSantis (born 1948), also known as Tullio, is an American contemporary artist, writer, technologist, and teacher. His work is informed by ancient and contemporary philosophy, science, and the relationship between art and life.
Biography
Tullio DeSantis began his career as a conceptual artist/writer by creating his regular column titled
MINDSTREAM
Mindstream (''citta-santāna'') in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum (Sanskrit: ''saṃtāna'') of sense impressions and mental phenomena, which is also described as continuing from one life to another.
Definition
' (Sanskri ...
, which appeared in the underground press periodical, ''
The Rip Off Review of Western Culture
''The Rip Off Review of Western Culture'' was an underground comics magazine published by Rip Off Press and produced out of San Francisco, California. It published three issues in 1972. The publication was historically significant in that it broug ...
''. The publisher of this magazine was the
Rip Off Press
Rip Off Press Corporation, Inc. is a comic book mail order retailer and Distribution (business), distributor, better known as the former publisher of adult-themed series like ''The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers'' and ''Rip Off Comix'', as well as ...
located in San Francisco in the early 1970s. In 1975 he entered the
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...
, where he graduated with a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...
in 1977.
Career beginnings
Tullio's career as an exhibiting artist began before his graduation and continued in San Francisco through 1979, after which he moved back to the East Coast. During his years in San Francisco, DeSantis' artwork was exhibited by ADI Galleries in San Francisco and
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. A work on paper by Tullio from this period was exhibited in Paper as Medium a series of national tours by
the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
Traveling Exhibition Service. His work from that time is represented in both public and private collections.
1980s
DeSantis moved back to the East Coast and took up dual residencies in
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...
, and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, where he maintained a studio in
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
. In New York his work was exhibited at the Katherine Markel and Getler Pall galleries. Also in 1980, his work was exhibited by the New York Museum of Modern Art's Lending Service in a traveling exhibition titled Maps.
In 1981 DeSantis began exhibiting his work in the Reading and
Berks County
Berks County ( Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading.
The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River ...
area. Among the local and regional exhibitions of note are the shows titled Local Color and Paper Pieces at the Freedman Gallery of
Albright College
Albright College is a private liberal arts college in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1856.
History
Albright College traces its founding to 1856 when Union Seminary opened. Present-day Albright was formed by the mergers of several ins ...
. During the 1980s his work was represented by Marion Locks Gallery in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
.
In 1982, DeSantis was co-producer of the large-scale multimedia exhibit at the
Reading Public Museum
The Reading Public Museum is a museum in West Reading, Pennsylvania. The museum's permanent collection mainly focuses on art, science, and civilization. It also has a planetarium and a arboretum.
Collection
The museum's art collection cont ...
titled Mushroom Magic. DeSantis's work from that exhibit included a series of color photographs and artifacts documenting the process of growing mushrooms for the commercial market, artworks on paper and a large acrylic-and-sand painting.
DeSantis mounted his first one-person show in New York City, titled New Worlds at the Tradition 3000 gallery in 1988.
1990s
The artist's exhibits from the 1990s include 1992's his Reading Lies part IV: Across the You-Niverse, a
multi-media
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
installation and performance piece hosted by the Freedman Gallery of Albright College. This was followed another gallery-size multimedia installation, DeSantis' one-person show at the New Arts Program gallery in
Kutztown, Pennsylvania
Kutztown ( Pennsylvania German: ''Kutzeschteddel'') is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located southwest of Allentown and northeast of Reading. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 5,012. Kutztown ...
, titled
The Missing Link.
Tullio's gallery-size installation work was continuously on view at the artist's studio from 1995 to 2004. This magical-realist environment contained, among many interactive components, miniature reconstructed and painted electric trains,
papier-mâché
upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti
upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico
Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
landscapes, and a multicolor and
infrared light
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
show recreating scenes seen during morning, afternoon, sunset, and night. The long-running work-in-progress was titled The Project and was a tribute to both DeSantis' friend and collaborator,
Keith Haring
Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...
and DeSantis' paternal grandfather, Francesco DeSantis.
From 1982 through 1990 Tullio Francesco DeSantis wrote on
art exhibition
An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhib ...
s and aesthetics for the ''
New Art Examiner
The ''New Art Examiner'' was an international magazine of critical art thinking founded in Chicago, Illinois, in October 1973 by Derek Guthrie and Jane Addams Allen. Publication ceased in 2002. As of 2023 there are two publications using the na ...
'',
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
and at the same time served as
art critic
An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...
for the ''
Reading Eagle
The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of Pe ...
''/''Reading Times'' newspapers in Pennsylvania.
It was in this period that the artist met and worked with Keith Haring. In 1984 DeSantis received a
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts
The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) is an agency serving the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to strengthen the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of Pennsylvania's communities through the arts. This mission is paired wit ...
Fellowship for his ongoing collaborative conceptual work with Keith Haring. In 1998 and 1999 DeSantis published the first four chapters of this work in the Terminal Journal under the title, Reading Lies Dreaming, published by Eschaton, Chicago. In 2016, the title was changed to "Nothing Dies" and the web site was moved to www.nothingdies.com.
Other writing
Tullio DeSantis' internationally published writing includes a
magical-realist story recounting the life of the Francesco DeSantis family and also the art, science, and craft of growing mushrooms for market. Tullio's "Life on a Mushroom Farm", appeared in the book ''Dreamstreets'',
Harper and Row
Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City.
History
J. & J. Harper (1817–1833)
James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...
, 1989, and has since been reprinted several times.
Tullio's personal and spiritual creative relationship with poet
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
yielded a number of works including a Ginsberg poem dedicated to Tullio DeSantis. and a Ginsberg drawing published at www.poetspath.com.
Teaching
DeSantis' higher-education art-teaching career has spanned the period from 1987 to the present. In 1987 he served as
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree and general ...
of art at Alvernia College, Reading, Pennsylvania. He has continued his teaching as an adjunct professor of art at Albright College,
University of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois, the MFA program of
Vermont College
Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is a private graduate-level art school in Montpelier, Vermont. It offers Master's degrees in low-residency and residential programs. Its faculty includes Pulitzer Prize finalists, National Book Award winners, ...
,
Norwich University
Norwich University – The Military College of Vermont is a private senior military college in Northfield, Vermont. It is the oldest private and senior military college in the United States and offers bachelor's and master's degrees on-campus ...
, and currently at
Reading Area Community College
Reading Area Community College (RACC) is a public community college in Reading, Pennsylvania. The college was founded in 1971 and serves the greater Reading area and Berks County, Pennsylvania. The institution is an Hispanic-serving institution ...
.
In 1990 the
American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
The AAUP's stated mission is ...
found and reported in ''
The Chronicle of Higher Education
''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...
'' that Tullio DeSantis had been improperly dismissed by Alvernia College (now Alvernia University) because of his criticism of the administration and that his rights of
academic freedom
Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...
had been violated. This incident provoked the resignation of the
college president
A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system.
In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...
, board chair, and the academic dean. DeSantis' suit with the college was eventually settled out of court. The settlement resulted in his being rehired.
Tullio Francesco DeSantis continued exhibiting his art in the early 1990s in a selected group of galleries including the Freedman Gallery of Albright College and the Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA.
Internet art
From the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s, the artist executed the major portion of his work anonymously on the Internet. The anonymous work was often conducted collaboratively and from 1998 through 2005 he created and worked as part of www.artelevision.com, a three-person online
Digital Performance group. This endeavor was analyzed and interpreted by
Nick Mamatas
Nick Mamatas ( el, Νίκος Μαμματάς) (born February 20, 1972) is an American horror, science fiction and fantasy author and editor for Haikasoru's line of translated Japanese science fiction novels for Viz Media. His fiction has been ...
in the NYC newspaper,
the Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
in October, 2000, in an article titled All Hands Off The Keyboard.
This collaborative Internet project is also represented online in
the Irish Museum of Modern Art Net Open exhibitions from 2002 and 2003.
The artist's collaborative work is referenced by the New York new art foundation,
Franklin Furnace
Franklin Furnace, also known as the Franklin Mine, is a famous mineral location for rare zinc, iron, manganese minerals in old mines in Franklin, New Jersey, United States. This locale produced more species of minerals (over 300) and more differ ...
and the CYBERARTS99: International Festival of
Digital Media
Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...
. The artist's collaborations with other Internet artists have included
Ana Voog, of anacam.com, and
performance art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
ist,
Frank Moore, whose site hosts artelevision.com's archives.
ARTology and ARTologyPOD
In 2005, Tullio created ARTology, his online blog for the
Reading Eagle
The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of Pe ...
newspaper web site. In 2006, the artist executed the initial work in a series of identity-based conceptual projects for the
new millennium
In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is li ...
at The New Arts Program in Kutztown, Pennsylvania,
His monoprints are travelled and collected as part of the New Arts Program Print Editions, which includes artist prints by
John Cage
John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading fi ...
,
Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
, Keith Haring, and
Bill T. Jones.
ARTologyPOD, the artists' regular series of conceptual podcasts, appears on www.readingeagle.com, www.weeu.com, and
Apple iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...
. DeSantis' discusses his conceptual work and his relationship with Keith Haring in a series of
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
videos, produced by Ron Schira.
In 2013, Tullio retired ARTologyPOD podcasts and moved his ARTology blog from the Reading Eagle Online to its own domains at www.tulliodesantis.net and www.artology.tv.
Recent and current work
Tullio DeSantis is referenced in Keith Haring's official biography the Rizzoli illustrated edition titled Keith Haring (2008), and the 2008 film,
The Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Ac ...
of Keith Haring.
The collaborative project between Keith Haring and Tullio DeSantis is the subject of a documentary project being executed by Canadian filmmaker and collector, Victor Lallouz. Filming for this project began in 2009 with locations in Berks County, PA and New York City. Filming for this project resumed in New York City in 2017.
DeSantis and Haring initiated this collaborative project in 1985. DeSantis describes the project in an introductory video that has been posted on YouTube in raw footage. These videos contain a recent lecture in which DeSantis introduces the purpose of the project. He has continued this work in various media since the day Keith Haring died, February 16, 1990.
Tullio's conceptual work is referenced in the art historical text: The Symbolist Roots of Modern Art, Michelle Facos, ed., 2015, Ashgate pub. ltd., England and USA, p. 92.
“In 2006 the New York artist Tullio DeSantis (b. 1948) exhibited Nothing as Art – a text, displayed in black inkjet toner on a sheet of white photocopy paper push-pinned to the gallery wall, which declared that not only was the formal manifestation of an idea unnecessary, but so was the idea itself.” – Andrew Marvick
ndrew Kent-Marvick Un Coup de dessin: Looking at the Blanks in Mallarme and Khnopff.
2010 and beyond
In the new decade, Tullio has increased his online presence, continuing his aesthetic interest in the evolutionary potential of the Internet.
Presentations of his multimedia work in 2010 include "The Facebook Show" at The Detroit Museum of New Art, and Volume 1 of the "International Email Audio Art Project" hosted by the Internet Archive.
2016 - Exhibition at Point. B Studio, Unique Impressions “More Love Now”. Tullio creates drawings on paper, then digitizes the original to create one light and one dark variation.
Brain and Mind
2012 DeSantis' "Brain and Mind" was first exhibited in the Brain Art Competition Online Exhibition at neurobureau.org
This piece is composed of hand-drawn and computer-generated images superimposed over digitally altered image of human brain and EEG map of artist's
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a v ...
waves.
In 2016, Tullio's artwork - "Brain and Mind" serves as the Cover Illustration for
Biological
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry.
Initial psych ...
:
Cognitive
Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
Neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
and Neuroimaging Volume 1, Issue 1
The cover image can be seen here
Tullio's collaborative projects
Tullio's collaborative projects in the new decade include working with artist George Blaha, artist/musician Heidi Harris, MaCu(Susanne Hafenscher), writers Jan Walls, Leanne Ogasawara(Tang Dynasty Times), and Robert Burton(Awakening Arts Network).
In 2011, Dr. Tom Fink and Tullio DeSantis created MindReflector Technologies, LLC to produce neurofeedback software and mind-training applications. Their first product, the MindReflector C-1 Neurofeedback Training System, utilized low-cost EEG-headsets produced by NeuroSky, Inc. MindReflector software utilized state-of-the art algorithms created by Dr. Fink to train the brain for optimal performance and functioning, using audio and visual cues. DeSantis managed MindReflector development and composed the audio track for MindReflector training. He collaborated with contemporary artists and engineers to extend MindReflector technology and multimedia. The MindReflector® Neurofeedback Training System was sold by NeuroSky and distributed internationally. In 2021, MindReflector stopped marketing software and continues as a psychology and neurofeedback research organization.
April 2012, Tullio DeSantis and
Pery Burge
Pery Burge (1955 – 10 February 2013) was an English artist who, during the 2000s, worked with abstract images using ink in water or ink on paper, invoking natural processes such as surface tension driven flow, gravity, turbulence, rotation an ...
have collaborated on multimedia projects that involved narrative readings, music by Tullio and visual fluid imagery created by Pery Burge.
2014 - The Art of Collaboration:
Dee Shapiro and Tullio DeSantis - Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY
2016 - More Love Now - Point.B Studio, Point Orford, OR
2010 – 2020 – Image, audio, and Video collaborations with Barbara Schedl
2019 – The Art of Music with Dick Boak –
Goggleworks
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts is a community art and cultural resource center located in Reading, Pennsylvania. The mission of the GoggleWorks is “to transform lives through unique interactions with art.”
Located in the former Willson Gogg ...
, Reading, PA
2018/2019 – Hadron Collider of Love w Dick Boak, 273 Bleecker St. NY, NY
2021 – Tullio's digital artwork appears as NFT crypto art on Rarible
[2021 – Tullio’s digital artwork appears as NFT crypto art on Rarible : https://www.rarible.com/oneiric]
Book: Limited Edition Catalog:
*
References
External links
*
Tullio's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Desantis, Tullio
Writers from Reading, Pennsylvania
1948 births
American artists
American male writers
Living people
San Francisco Art Institute alumni
Alvernia University faculty