Ragazzo Americano

Ragazzo Americano is an autobiographical work by the artist Neil Tetkowski, an exploration of how his early experiences of living in Siena, Italy influenced every aspect of his creative life. A collection of more than fifty black and white photos from the early 1960s provide a visual narration that enhances the evolving text. Tetkowski begins his personal story from the point of view of his five-year-old self, recounting and accessing early memories with remarkable clarity. Life appeared safe and simple, but as the book progresses we enter the developing mind of the adolescent, the young man, and the complex adult. Finally arriving at the present, we can look back over an arch of 60 years. Ragazzo Americano is published in dual- language format, Italian and English, two columns of type on each page that line up together, paragraph by paragraph. Tetkowski's reflections on the enchanted years in Tuscany are a historical snapshot of post war Italy and a celebration of the struggles and joy of finding one's identity in a multicultural world.

Ragazzo Americano is an autobiographical work by the artist Neil Tetkowski, an exploration of how his early experiences of living in Siena, Italy influenced every aspect of his creative life. A collection of more than fifty black and white photos from the early 1960s provide a visual narration that enhances the evolving text. Tetkowski begins his personal story from the point of view of his five-year-old self, recounting and accessing early memories with remarkable clarity. Life appeared safe and simple, but as the book progresses we enter the developing mind of the adolescent, the young man, and the complex adult. Finally arriving at the present, we can look back over an arch of 60 years. Ragazzo Americano is published in dual- language format, Italian and English, two columns of type on each page that line up together, paragraph by paragraph. Tetkowski's reflections on the enchanted years in Tuscany are a historical snapshot of post war Italy and a celebration of the struggles and joy of finding one's identity in a multicultural world. Ragazzo Americano, lavoro autobiografico, è un'esplorazione di come le esperienze di vita a Siena, cominciate a partire dall'infanzia, hanno influenzato ogni aspetto della vita creativa dell'artista Neil Tetkowski. La narrazione testuale è accompagnata dalla parallela narrazione visiva di più di cinquanta foto in bianco e nero risalenti all'inizio degli anni Sessanta. Tetkowski narra la sua storia a partire dalla voce di lui stesso da bambino, consegnando ai lettori un racconto di notevole lucidità dei suoi ricordi infantili. Se la vita appariva semplice e sicura a quel bambino di cinque anni, con il progredire del testo assumiamo progressivamente la prospettiva della mente in via di sviluppo di un adolescente, di un giovane, e infine di un adulto con le sue complessità. Una volta raggiunto il presente, ci è possibile guardare in retrospettiva ad un arco di sessant'anni. Ragazzo Americano è pubblicato in formato bilingue, il testo inglese accanto al testo italiano, accostato paragrafo per paragrafo. Le riflessioni di Tetkowski sugli anni incantati in Toscana sono un'istantanea dell'Italia del dopoguerra e una celebrazione del percorso, talora difficile, talora gioioso, alla formazione della propria identità in un mondo multiculturale.

Neil Tetkowski grew up in Western New York, with the exception of several formative years in Siena, Italy (1961-64). He was the youngest person to benefit from the Siena study abroad program initiated by his father Dr. Clement Tetkowski, who was an art professor at Buffalo State. Before his tenth birthday, Neil had visited museums and cultural landmarks in more than twenty countries. Tetkowski's time in Tuscany with the ancient stone architecture, terra-cotta roofs and rich colorful landscapes clearly made a lasting impression and may have been a reason why he became an artist. He says his connection with clay and the Earth is rooted in these very early experiences. Neil Tetkowski's creative projects are often a means to express his relationship to the natural environment and the interconnection of all people. In 2000 he conceived and built a unique sculpture at the United Nations using a blend of earth materials from every nation. There he physically involved people from every country of the world. "The Common Ground World Project" was officially endorsed at the United Nations in 1997 as an environmental project and was exhibited in its completed form in 2002 at the Visitor's Lobby in New York. Tetkowski has had solo shows in Japan, Italy, China, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands. He has received many awards including a Ford Foundation grant. Tetkowski's artwork is widely published and represented internationally in fifty museum collections. Since 1993, Tetkowski has been living in Manhattan. www.tetkowski.com