Taking the form of an opulent tapestry constructed entirely from discarded aluminum cans, Carmelo Arnoldin’s The Last Supper depicts a spread of fast food fare readily associated with North American lifestyles. Measuring more than twenty feet long, the work draws on traditions such as religious painting, Roman mosaics and Dutch vanitas—and their enduring themes of devotion, desire and death—to reflect on the state of vice and virtue in contemporary life.
Carmelo Arnoldin's first solo exhibition took place in 1984 at Mercer Union, Toronto; he has since exhibited his work at the Textile Museum of Canada, Kunsthalle Erfurt, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Koffler Gallery and many other venues across Canada, the United States, China and Italy. Since 1987, Arnoldin has been a professor in the Art and Art History program at Sheridan College in Oakville and the University of Toronto at Mississauga.
Carmelo Arnoldin: The Last Supper is presented as part of the 2014 World of Threads Festival.
