Featured Work
About
Giovanni Casadei was born and raised in Rome, Italy. From 1978 to 1980, he studied at Scuola Libera del Nudo (Free School for Drawing and Painting sponsored by the Academy of Fine Art of Rome) under the instruction of the Armenian artist, Alfonso Avanessian. From 1980 to 1981, he was enrolled at the Academy of Fine Art in Rome, then from 1981 to 1983, studied further under Alfonso Avanessian. After studying in Rome, he moved to Philadelphia in 1983. In 1988 he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Seymour Remenick. Casadei has taught painting at various art centers in the Philadelphia area since 1997.
Casadei’s approach to painting is to communicate to the viewer his love for life and human beings, through the expression of his feelings, emotions, and passions that are inspired by the visual world around him. He captures with the medium of painting a moment that exists in him and that is inspired by light, colors, and the visual abstractions that nature offers us in every moment in our life. He has shown and sold his work in Philadelphia and other major cities for the last twenty years.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2017 Moments of Light, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Every Day Light, Still Lifes, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2009 America-Italy Society, Philadelphia, PA
2006 – 07 Figure and Still Life, Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Recent Paintings, Gallery 71, New York, NY
2003 Recent Oils, Carspecken-Scott Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2002 A Trip To Tuscany, Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2001 Recent Paintings, Bennett Street Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2000 Recent Paintings, Whitney Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
1999 Recent Paintings, Mulligan-Shanoski Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1997 Italian Journey, Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1996 Paintings of Landscapes & Interiors, Design Arts Gallery, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
1994 Alla Prima Paintings, Mulligan-Shanoski Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Visions of Rome, Hahn Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 Short & Sweet, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2011 American Landscape: Coast to Coast, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Drawn to the Water, Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
2008 The Landscape Observed and Imagined, Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Still Life Group Show, Mangel Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2002 Virtual Sky, Carspecken-Scott Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2002 Small Paintings, Whitney Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
1999 The Art of the State: 33rd Annual Juried Exhibition of the Greater Harrisburg Art Council, State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
1997 The Unbroken Line: PAFA Centennial Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1996 56th Annual Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
1993 Artists Choose Artists, Main Line Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Art at the Armory, Philadelphia, PA
1992 First Annual Art Student Competition, Philadelphia Sketch Club, Philadelphia, PA
1990 Fellowship of PAFA Show, Doylestown Art Museum, Doylestown, PA
1988 Student Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1986 Art in City Hall: The Self Portrait, Philadelphia, PA
1984 Student Show, Fleischer Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
Awards and Honors
2006 Honorable Mention for Paintings, Art of the State: Pennsylvania
2006 Berthe M. Goldberg Award, 109th Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1992 The Philadelphia Mayor’s Award
1992 The Morris Blackburn Landscape Prize, Special Notice
1992 Philadelphia Watercolor Club Award
1991 Lucille Sorgenti Scholarship
1991 The Thouron Prize
1991 The Charles Tappan Prize
1991 The Morris Blackburn Landscape Prize
1991 The Henry Scheidt Memorial Travel Scholarship
1990 Mabel Wilson Woodrow Memorial Award
1990 The Edna Pennypacker Stausfer Memorial Prize
1988 The Frances D. Bergman Memorial, Special Notice for Outstanding Achievement at PAFA
Grants
2011 Fleischer Art Memorial, Hazell Faculty Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA
2006 Fleischer Art Memorial, Hazell Faculty Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA
1998 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Montreal, Canada
Selected Public Collections
Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Education
1988 – 92 Certificate in Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
1986 – 87 Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia, PA
1981 – 83 Scuola Libera del Nudo, Rome, Italy
1980 – 81 Academy of Fine Arts, Rome, Italy
1978 – 80 Scuola Libera del Nudo (free School for Drawing), Rome, Italy
