Paintings of the Roma Exhibited in New York

Helen Del Guidice’s paintings of Romany women and children – her "Rom Madonnas" series – are stirring portraits which force us to contemplate these women and children in their ongoing poverty and marginalization. Del Guidice has captured the tenacious individualism of her subjects, with both despair and love etched in their faces. They are no longer "beggars," but cherished individuals–cherished by the artist, if not by the world that segregates them. In addition to her "Rom Madonnas" project, Del Guidice has created a spectrum of self-portraits, à la Cindy Sherman, which reveal her many moods and incarnations.

Del Guidice is committed to exploring the possibilities which make up individual character, and the loss of such possibilities which perpetuate the life of poverty for Italy’s Romany population. She is a professor of painting for Lorenzo de Medici, Florence, a member of the Gruppo Archeologico di Roma, and has shown her works in Italy, France, and the United States.

From March 16 to April 6 at Agora Gallery, 530 West 25th Street, Chelsea, New York. Opening hours: 11am-6pm. Reception March 22nd, 6-8 PM. Please visithttp://www.agora-gallery.com/ArtistInvite/Helen_Del_Guidice.aspx  for more information. Please note that some images in the exhibition contain nudity.