CORALINA CATALDI-TASSONI

“Seduced, we enter Coralina's world filled with drama, mysticism and rebirth. As poetry takes shape on canvas, the audience find themselves witnessing an outcry, a call to arms to be fearless and believe."

La Repubblica

Coralina Cataldi - Tassoni is an internationally recognized actress, painter, singer, song composer and writer.

She was born on Manhattan's Upper-West Side. As a young child, she moved to Rome, where she spent many years.

Coralina is the daughter of Maestro Walter Cataldi-Tassoni, a globally prominent opera director, and mezzo-soprano Velia Botti. Her grandfather, Maestro Corace Cataldi-Tassoni, studied under Mascagni and conducted for Giacomo Puccini. She was an active member of her father’s opera company since early childhood, singing her first role in Puccini's La Bohème at the age of three. Coralina continued performing on stage and assisting her father in theaters around the world until her late teens.

Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni is an award winning actress (Opera, Mother Of Tears, The Dirt, Phantom Of The Opera) famous for her film work with renowned European directors such as legendary filmmaker Dario Argento, who cast her in several movies, Pupi Avati, Luciano Odorisio and Lamberto Bava. She has acted alongside such screen luminaries as Oscar nominee Pete Postlethwaite (Usual Suspects) and John Hannah (The Mummy, Sliding Doors).

Coralina returned to the United States where she was offered a scholarship by the famous school of comedy and improvisation Second City in Chicago. In the USA she has successfully performed on stage, acting in plays, comedies and musical theater where her powerful mezzo-soprano voice received many accolades.

Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni’s film roles have become iconic figures for fans all around the world.

Coralina’s desire to explore her creativity has allowed her to blossom into a very successful painter. Her solo exhibits have gathered high praise within Manhattan's gallery scene. Her art, which she simply signs “Coralina”, has been displayed in the USA and Europe. This prolific artist’s clientèle includes many illustrious international film-makers and performers.

Coralina: Life is Art/Art is Life, a book edited by Filippo Brunamonti, is available in a prestigious bilingual edition (English and Italian). Its pages contain exclusive interviews and essays by internationally acclaimed artists, directors, writers, critics (Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Mariano Baino, Luca Barnabè, Irene Miracle, Tim Lucas, and many more) all expressing their respect, admiration and love for this versatile artist. To accompany the launch of the book Coralina wrote and co-directed a highly cinematic short film, Coralina: Based on a True Life, along with renowned director Mariano Baino (Dark Waters, Never Ever After).

To purchase a signed copy of the book "CORALINA: LIFE IS ART/ART IS LIFE", please go to: www.coralina.net

Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni resides in Manhattan. Her work can be viewed by appointment only.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My art is "personal emotionalism". An autobiographical walk through what I baptized my "Magical Alternate Dimension”, my M.A.D. A spiritual journey interspersed with mystic characters from my past, present or future. It could be a person I saw in a dream or a vision, but, ultimately, each painting becomes me through some form of transference.

Each painting is a piece of the missing puzzle - a clue, a key to my true self.

Everything and everyone has a sound, and every sound has an image. My memories, my voice, the voices of others, eyes, hands, situations, objects, cities, lips, streets, rain, moon, smiles, toys, pebbles. Everything. Everyone and everything are notes. Sounds. I feel them. I hearI hear them. I am those sounds. My paintings are translations of those sounds.

Like a three chord love song. I hope my art conveys the simple truth of emotions that are real and pertain to a world where people can relate, discover and overcome.

SELECTED QUOTATIONS

"Seduced, we enter Coralina's word filled with drama, mysticism and rebirth. As poetry takes shape on canvas, audiences find themselves witnessing an outcry, a call to arms to be fearless and believe.”
LA REPUBBLICA

"I love her art. Actually, I worship it. I have one of Coralina's paintings, and her visionary talent is breathtaking...she is unique, passionate and brilliant."
ALESSANRO D'ALATRI – DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER

“Her work is astonishing. Her paintings need to be seen live. A postcard or a printed picture do not give justice to the beauty of her art.”
DARIO ARGENTO - DIRECTOR

"Seeing Coralina's art works is having human story captured in painted line. Like a great Weegee photograph, Coralina's compositions contain stark vulnerability that is forcefully unique, and thus magnificently compelling."
SAMUEL KHO - CURATOR

“In all of my homes there is only one wall reserved for hanging paintings, all the other walls are empty... I only have three paintings hanging on the wall, and Coralina's painting is one of them.”
LAMBERTO BAVA - DIRECTOR

“The raw brushwork in Coralina’s paintings highlight rather than conceal the textures (and thus the materiality) of the canvas and paint, often carving out gestures evocative of pain. The paintings are not about suffering, so much as the calm that follows our triumph over it."
ROBERT PARIGI - DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

2011
Solo Show “SMART INNOCENCE 2” - Matilda - NYC

2010
Solo show “SMART INNOCENCE”- Matilda - NYC
Solo show “HIDDEN BY A THREAD” - Soap Box Gallery - NYC
Group show “SAM'S BOOK OF MARTYRS” - All Things Project Gallery - NYC

2009
Solo show “UNTRACEABLE SPACES” - All Things Project Gallery - NYC
Group Show “FIGURE US FANCY” - All Things Project Gallery - NYC

2008
Solo Show “GUIDED BY YOU” - Galleria Artisti Associati -Rome, Italy
Solo Show “THE THIRD BULLET” - Immagini Lunari - Castel di Sangro, Italy

2007
Group Show “CRAZY LIPS” - Polvo Gallery, Chicago

2006
Group Show “DRAW” - Fuse Gallery - NYC

2005
Solo show “GODS WILL CHANGE” - HPGRP Gallery - NYC
Dual Show “C&C” - Cliff Street Gallery - NYC
 
Additionally, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni's art has been featured in numerous art and film publications in the US and internationally.