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| Camden, New Jersey, 1929: Oil-based etching ink and RivesBFK white paper |
Artist Statement: My father was born and raised in Camden, New Jersey, on South 4th Street in the Italian-American ghetto. His father died when he was a child, leaving a widow and five other siblings. This water tank was where the neighborhood children were able to swim; the Delaware River, only a block away, was too polluted. This industrial cityscape was less than half a mile from the fashionable neighborhoods around Cooper Street. RCA and Campbell’s Soups ran massive operations on the Delaware nearby. In the present day, urban “removal”, has replaced these factories with an aquarium, entertainment and concert center, and numerous parking lots for Rutgers University. Rutgers demolished The Cooper Grant School to make way for a parking lot. This school had been dedicated by Walt Whitman in 1890. The poet’s words, “Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish”, are still carved into City Hall’s facade. Bio: Di Falco lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has also lived in Camden (NJ), New York City, San Diego, and Madrid (Spain). The full time artist has exhibited his works in 450 shows around the world since 1978. His academic degrees include a B.A. in Fine Arts from Rutgers University and an M.S. in Curatorial Science, from Drexel University. He manually prints and publishes all his original etchings in Philadelphia. He employs a full size, freestanding STAND brand printing press and a large manual STAR WHEEL press. He has been a member of The Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral for over ten years. The following areas inspire him: Archaeology; Architecture; Mysticism; Christian Iconography; Cinema; Politics, History; and Sacred Geometry. |
