Urban-Planner-Turned-Artist Alex White Mazzarella Evokes City Life In His Work

Two years ago, Alex White Mazzarella was living in Hong Kong, working as a city planner. Now, he is a Brooklyn-based abstract artist, showing regularly in the city and selling to collectors in Denmark, Norway, France, Italy, and across the States. And he has his former boss to thank.

"One day I handed my boss a proposal for a planning project, and he said to me, 'Why are you forcing yourself to do this?'" says Mazzarella, 30. "I was like, 'oh shit, that's really true.'"

The Boston-born artist sits at his small kitchen table in his Greenpoint apartment. Behind him, in what could have been anyone else's living room, finished and in-progress paintings cover both walls, and paint splatters speckle the floor. In front of a single window, a table hides beneath tubes of paint and jars of brushes. "He really made me think about the idea that if there is something that you can really be passionate and driven to do, then your job isn’t just an occupation," says Mazzarella. "Your job is kind of a self-fulfillment."

So he did what anybody would do in the middle of a recession: he quit his job and took a two-week trip to Berlin to clear his head. When he came home, he started painting like mad. "I just started drawing and using pastels and painting, up until five in the morning, just doing it," he says. "I didn't know what else to do."

The same things that attracted Mazzarella to city planning began appearing in his artwork. "In urban planning, they use public space and design, whether it be organic or planned, to express what a group of people and their culture is," he says. "Art does the same thing. For me, it was a transition from a physical cityscape to more of a mental-scape in my paintings. I try to emit what an urban culture or society is like, but via an artwork."

In that regard, Brooklyn has been a constant source of inspiration. While other cities inspired Mazzarella because of their architecture — Hong Kong's ultra modern shiny skyscrapers, Barcelona's old-word Gothic Quarter — Brooklyn inspires because of its atmosphere. "The people here, the mixing of cultures here, and the energy that exists here are much deeper inspirations than the physical coolness of other cities I’ve been to."

Mazzarella's paintings draw the viewer in through bold strokes of blended color that move along the canvas, evoking images of street art and city life. He builds layers with a constant mixing of materials – pastels, acrylic, pencil, glue, spray paint, found objects, magazine clippings – and deconstructed shapes. The intensely expressive works reflect narratives about relationships, modern culture, and the social and physical landscape of cities. In one work, We Are What We Demarcate, a pink cattle skull floats over the a multicolored cattle diagram. Instead of noting the cuts of meat, the sections say things like "Reason," "Car Payment," and "Love," speaking to the idea that life forces us to play different roles and be different people.

At 28, Mazzarella felt a little late to the game, but found inspiration in artists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner who similarly didn't start creating until their late 20s. "That gave me this idea that, ok, maybe it’s not too late," says Mazzarella. "I believe that some artists start expressing when they have something to express, rather than focusing on the technical."

Serendipity lead to his first exhibition. Around the winter holidays in 2008, Mazzarella took a walk through Williamsburg and came across Sideshow Gallery on Bedford Avenue. The door was open, so he walked in. Pieces of art covered the floor, people hurried around him. One thing lead to another and he found himself showing Terrence Miele, the assistant to gallery director Richard Timperio, images of his own paintings on his blog.

"Where is this? Where do you work?" asked Miele.

"In my apartment, just a few blocks away," said Mazzarella.

"Grab your coat, let's go."

At his apartment, Miele chose four of Mazzarella's paintings to be included in Sideshow's upcoming holiday show. "I can't promise anything," he said. Mazzarella thought the show was just a small neighborhood exhibition. He was shocked to find his work hanging among established artists like Larry Poons, Dan Christensen, Thornton Willis who had been making art for decades. Mazzarella had been creating work professionally for four months.

"It was a pretty cool way to break into the arts scene," said Mazzarella, running a hand through his wavy mop of hair.

Despite not having studied art extensively, Mazzarella's technical skills match his talent for expressionism. Growing up and during his travels, he filled sketch books with detailed pencil drawings of buildings, landscapes, and people. "Instead of writing a travel journal, I did this," he says, pointing out scenes from Turkey, Spain, and Italy. His natural talent is not surprising; Mazzarella hails from a long line of artists. His great-grandfather was the renowned Italian artist Giuseppe Andriani, both sets of grandparents worked creatively, and his father is an abstract artist.

Currently, Mazzarella is preparing for a documentary project in India called Artefacting Mumbai. This winter, Mazzarella will travel with fellow city planner Casey Nolan to live in Dharavi, one of the largest slums in Asia, to tell the story of this settlement and its people. Dharavi is often viewed as the pinnacle of poverty and is in danger of being completely wiped out by a modern development. "The reality is that it's a busting economy," says Mazzarella. When he worked in city planning, people would point to Dharavi as a model slum. "People are producing pottery, textiles, and clothing. They recycle all their waste. There's various industries."

Through Mazzarella's artwork and Nolan's daily photojournalism, the pair will examine the issues of sustainability and globalization in relation to communities like Dharavi that are being alienated by modern wealth and culture. "Dharavi has an extraordinary amount of social wealth, which is something that's overlooked, sometimes even dis-valued, in city planning. We want to show people that this type of wealth is often the most important."

Alex and Casey are currently seeking financial contributions for Artefacting Mumbai. To donate, email alex [at] lamazza.com or cnn_ [at] msn.com.

(First two photos courtesy Alex White Mazzarella)