Caffé sud - first set dinners

2007-04-06T14:40:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - May 16, 1979

John Corr

RESTAURANTS: Johnny Aiello's Caffé sud on south Street is holding the first of what probably will be many “set dinners.” Thirty people will partake tonight of a single, multi-course Italian dinner prepared by an Italian chef imported just for the occasion.

Caffé sud, by the way, is one of the few places in town serving cappuccino.

Planting The Seeds Of Global Empire

2007-04-06T14:42:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Welcomat - February 8, 1978

Johnny Aiello:

Planting The Seeds Of Global Empire

By Martin Hirsch

While a typically colorful procession of grease paint crazies descends upon TLA Cinema for another midnight screening of "Rocky Horror Picture Show," a small crowd of onlookers is gathering in front of the new Caffé sud at 404 South Street. There, a compactly built, dark-haired, bearded man wearing black pants and a black turtleneck sweater is standing outside in the sub-freezing air, polishing a slightly smudged window pane with maniacal, wreckless abandon.

JOHNNY AIELLO, you see, is a man obsessed with an idea. And the Caffé sud is the embodiment of that idea.

Just what the idea is, exactly, is something that only Aiello himself can full explain. But don't ask unless you're prepared to spend the next 4 or 5 hours listening.

It has something to do with "cultural sensitivity," "ethnic purity," and, what you might call "cultural globalism." Aiello's philosophy is basically this: each culture offers its own interpretation of life's problems, and all cultures seek to interpret the same set of conditions.

"A person's own culture acts as a prism through which he can begin to perceive the spectrum of all other cultures," Aiello asserts.

THE PRISM through which Aiello perceives the world was cut in the womb-like surroundings of a close-knit South Philadelphia Italian enclave near 6th and Dickinson Streets. His grandmother, who immigrated to America from Calabria, Italy, in the 1920's never learned to speak English, he says, because the little self-contained neighborhood was so much like the old country that she never had to.

It was not until about 10 years ago when Aiello began branching out from the protective confines of his childhood community that he realized his perspective was not exactly the same as every one else's.

That's when the obsession was born.

"I realized," Aiello recalls, "that there was no machinery in that big superstructure to enable a person like me to redefine myself without giving up a part of my identity. I was like a little village kid who was thrust out into the world and forced to choose between total assimilation into the mainstream or total regression back to the village."

AFTER EARNING his bachelors' degree in art and his master's in education and communications, Aiello spent the next 10 years searching for a middle road between the two unacceptable choices.

He would teach for a year or two, save some money, and then take a year or two off to study and travel. "I'm interested in finding out what the world is about and what I am about," he says, "and all of my work stems from that search.

Aiello's exploration of world culture eventually led him to the second part of his philosophy: that the hub of all the world's great cultures is in the Mediterranean; specifically, in Italy where, he points out, the two greatest global structures in history - The Roman Empire and the Catholic Church - both were born.

Aiello sees the Mediterranean as an almost mystical spot on the globe where the essence of a vast array of divergent energies all flow together into a single harmonious sea of creativity. "The Italian word for it is 'sincretismo'," he explains. "It means the ability to put discordant units together and allow them to work constructively."

HIS DISCOVERY of this 'golden thread' which links the world has inspired Aiello to undertake several ambitious projects to promulgate his philosophy. Several years ago, he helped to found the Verranzano College for Mediterranean Studies in New York. He is currently working on a history book called "The Next Italian Empire," and he recently completed a proposal for a special television documentary, which focuses on his cultural crossroad concept of the Mediterranean.

What Aiello says he has learned from his years of research is that there is, indeed, a middle road between the old world and the new, and that now, for the first time, America is ready to accept that.

In Filadelphia, art and liquor mix well

2007-04-06T14:43:00.000-04:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer - February 7, 1979

John Corr

Johnny Aiello finally got a liquor license for his Caffé, so he has decided to start an art school for children in the village of Filadelphia in southern Italy.

I know it’s confusing, but Aiello is a complicated man. He owns Caffé sud at Fourth and South Streets.

He was doing very well selling espresso and other kinds of coffee, unusual salads and sandwiches and cheese. Now that he has a liquor license, he has begun selling more substantial meals (he sold out of everything Saturday night and had to close).

“Don’t get me wrong,” he hastens to add. “Our friends come here because it’s a nice little place. It will always be just a nice little place.” It’s little, all right. The capacity is 30, tops.

Aiello, a former teacher at the Philadelphia College of Art, is going over to Italy in a few weeks to look for land for his art school.

Ethnic groups unite, aid business, imageAdvertising Age - June 30, 1980

2007-04-06T14:44:00.000-04:00

Bill Tonelli

Philadelphia---Take a dozen or so businesspeople of Italian (or Greek, or French or even Albanian) extraction, make them smile for the camera, collect their money and put them in a magazine. Do you call that an ad campaign?

From John Aiello’s point of view, it’s merely an offshoot of his master plan---to awaken Americans to the meaning and importance of their various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. To the hair stylists, restauranteurs, clothiers and other small business men and women who have participated, it has been a novel and affordable way to be part of full-page ads in publications such as Esquire, Playboy and Sports Illustrated.

Whatever the reasons, John Aiello’s “cultural heritage advertising” campaign is attracting attention in the Philadelphia area---and it’s spreading. John Aiello, 37, is an artist, designer and former teacher. But he devotes most of his energy to his role as founder of and guiding spirit behind Group sud.

Sud is a loosely knit group of Italian-Americans---mostly artistic types---which works on John Aiello’s various cultural and ethnic projects. These ventures, which include a school in Italy and a children’s book, are all part of John Aiello’s grand vision: The establishment of a “global Italian community,” a loose union of the world’s people of Italian heritage. “Sud,” meaning south, stands for the part of Italy most Italian-Americans claim as their ancestral home. All of John Aiello’s projects bear the name sud. Indeed, John Aiello has even dubbed himself “Aiello del sud.” The idea for the campaign arose in 1978, when John Aiello opened an Italian–style café near Philadelphia’s Society Hill section.

John Aiello said he was shocked to discover that it would cost him $150 for a one-inch ad for his café in Philadelphia magazine. So he convinced eight fellow Italian-American small business men to chip in with him on a full-page ad “The Philadelphia Italians,” announced the headline. Except for the name and business address of each man pictured in the ad, there was no copy. Within the next 18 months, Group sud placed 20 pages of its ethnic ads in the magazine. The campaign grew to include Greeks, Jews, Irish, blacks and other groups. Professions represented included doctors, lawyers, travel agents, educators, realtors and an undertaker.

Each ad was tailored to the ethnic group it served. The Irish ad referred to Irish writers and paraphrased Yeats; the ad for the city’s Greeks pointed out that Philadelphia is a Greek word. But each ad’s focus was the same: Here is a group of people who are special because of their cultural heritages.

John Aiello said the biggest hurdle, was convincing people to pay for non-product ads which they would not see until they were published. “I used to tell them, ‘Just give me the money, show up for the picture and then go home’,” he joked. “We weren’t really too crazy about the whole thing from the beginning,” recalled Philadelphia magazine advertising director Frank DeLone, “It was ethnic, and we felt that running the ads would be seen as a tacit endorsement of the idea by the magazine.”
Mr. DeLone used the word “weird” to describe his initial view of the campaign. “People in the advertising business here couldn’t understand what Mr. Aiello was doing. Who would ever take money from a lot of people from the same ethnic group and put them together in an ad?”

Despite his reservations, Mr. DeLone conceded that the ads have been effective. “They got a lot of talk around town. Ads with people in them appeal to readers, I guess.” And the numbers back that statement. In a Starch study performed on one issue of Philadelphia magazine, two sud ads ranked 19th and 22nd in reader recollection out of more than 100 ads.

John Aiello credits the campaign’s success to what he sees as a growing ethnic consciousness in America. “I’m trying to prove that culture is powerful in the commercial marketplace. My test for the ads was to see if culture could work in a big-city market.” But John Aiello doesn’t kid himself about other appeal the ads offer. “Whether you like being Italian---or whatever---or not, in the end it’s a business approach: What’s it give me, what will it cost me, what will it do for me? And for most of the clients, the results have been far in excess of their expectations.”

Earlier this year, John Aiello moved his campaign from the local monthly to regional editions of national magazines. Media included Esquire, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Playboy and Sports Illustrated. Also, an ad for women’s hair stylists of Italian descent will run in Glamour, Mademoiselle and Seventeen in the fall.

John Aiello also has plans to expand the campaign beyond Philadelphia. One ad, for southern New Jersey Italian-American entrepreneurs, will appear in regional issues of Newsweek, Time, U.S. News & World Report and Sports Illustrated in the fall.

The Roots of Italy Are Deep

2007-04-06T14:49:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Daily News - Tuesday, April 6, 1976

Larry McMullen

John Aiello was remembering a neighborhood in South Philadelphia where the sun shone in the morning on the Jewish side of the street and in the afternoon on the Italian side.

John Aiello was remembering a neighborhood where the Italians all came out one day and watched in sorrow as an old couple named Sokoloff from across the street was taken away. The Sokoloffs' grown children took them away to a home for old people. "When the car turned the corner," said Johnny Aiello, "the Sokoloffs ceased to exist. I was about eight years old. I had a sense of terror."

The images were very good. John Aiello was making a point with his memories of growing up around 6th and Dickinson. "The great experiment in America wasn't that it was a melting pot," he said. "It was that you could be connected but separate. The real potential of American is as a haven where people can be free to choose what they want to be." What John Aiello is by blood and by choice is Italian.

The question isn't whether the Italians will survive in America," he said, "The question is will they survive constructively. I think the only way ethnic energy will subside is if we discover anther planet with life on it. If we're confronted by a guy with 25 heads, all of a sudden John Aiello and Larry McMullen will discover they're a lot alike."

John Aiello and I talked for four hours last night about a search he has been making for the last 10 years. John Aiello has been searching for himself. He searched in books, he talked to Italians in America and he went back to his roots, to Calabria, to talk to Italians in Italy.

He said he boarded a boat in Naples for the return trip to America and was surprised at the intensity of emotion shown by the people on the docks who were saying goodbye to friends and relatives. "Then I realized," he said, "that the emigration was still going on, that those people were leaving Italy for good to come to America. It was like going back in a time tunnel."

John Aiello feels the Italian identity is being threatened. He is fighting a small protective action now as executive director of the Italian-American Bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia. The celebration will relate some of the Italian experience in America with exhibits and concerts and discussions, but it will not tell all that Johnny Aiello has learned in his long search through 2,000 years of Italian History.

He can tell you that in the 10th century the enrollment at the University of Bologna was 10,000 and that the students made their own curriculum and hired and fired the teachers. He can quote from Dante and talk about the politics and economics of Italy under Mussolini.

John Aiello has a bachelor's degree in art and a master's in education and communications. He has taught in college and he talks as easily of Camus and Chekhov as my crowd talks of Luzinski and Shoemaker. Half the time, I did not know what in hell Johnny Aiello was talking about.

But I know we disagreed about where America is going. He said the melting pot theory has been so discredited it can no longer even be discussed. I said something is going on here when a girl can come out of County Galway at the end of the last century and wind up with a grandson who has the blood of the Irish and Scots and Germans and English and God knows what else running through his veins. He argued that I was the product of a Northern European culture that lived in me. We could have gone round and round forever. In the end, what we did agree on was that the memories of other times and other places are still alive and strong in America.

"I'm a peasant," said John Aiello, "and I'm standing on top of a mountain with my goat. Down below, a lot of people are making a commotion. They're starting up the mountain and they'll keep coming until I'll have to decide if it's their time on the mountaintop. I'll have to fight or die."

John Aiello said the Italians will not be like the Sokoloffs across the street from where he lived as a child. They will not be taken away. They will not simply cease to exist.

Caffé sud wins Philadelphia magazine's "Best of Philly" Awards!

2007-04-06T14:46:00.000-04:00

1978 - "Creative Sandwich" (Panini)
1979 - "Special Pastry"
1979 - "Caffe Ambience" (Interior Design)
1980 - "Espresso"
1981 - "Cappuccino"

A man with a plan to preserve all things Italian

2007-04-13T09:51:00.000-04:00

Published on 1998-11-11, Page B02, Philadelphia Inquirer

JOHNNY AIELLO KNOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF HIS HERITAGE. HIS ADVERTISEMENTS ARE HELPING HIM SPREAD THE WORD.

Lini S. Kadaba, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Johnny Aiello has a point to make, and he needs at least two hours to make it. If you can't spare the time, then forgetaboutit. He has already waited more than two decades for the world to catch up to him. ``I'm a professional Italian,'' said the local ad man, as he kicked off his sales pitch. The ``pro'' is a third-generation Italian American with roots in Calabria, and he wants to save the 3,000-year-old Italian culture. How? Aiello is writing a book, designing a grand plan (in need of $5 billion), and creating ads with a decidedly Italian flavor. ``This is actually quite gigantic,'' said the South Philly transplant to Oreland, Montgomery County.

Part sociologist, part carnival barker, Aiello, 55, laments an Italian ``diaspora'' that, in his opinion, has little knowledge of its rich history. Over the last 25 years, he has worked to change that, sculpting a vision with the painstaking care of a Michelangelo over David. Aiello has dreamed up a state-of-the-art technology and cultural center, where Italians around the world would come together to study art, literature and science in the mountains of his ancestral land. The center, he believes, would make Italy the focus of the Italian diaspora, revitalizing its links to the old country - a model, he points out, that could work for any culture.

So Aiello has sketches ready in case il primo ministro should call with the $5 billion he expects the operation to cost. That's the future. Meanwhile, he's banking on this book (The Modern Global Italian Empire), which, if he can find a publisher, would summarize the essentials of Italian culture, from the Roman empire and the rise of Catholicism to the Renaissance and the dispersion of Italians around the globe.

And he is creating advertisements, for a fee, of course. But the one-time art teacher and former cafe owner isn't just hawking Italian lawyers, Italian mechanics or even Italian matchmakers for a mere buck or two. He says he is sending a message, that what Italians may do today - from dentistry to hairstyling - has connections to a culture that spans three millennia. Some of the ads, appearing in Philadelphia Magazine and other publications, feature pictures of people from various walks of life with one thing in common. They're Italian.

The current series features portraits of lawyers, politicians, contractors, engineers, mechanics and more, complete with phone numbers and addresses, under the headline: Italian Problem Solvers. That's the advertisement. But Aiello's design also includes a quote attributed to Horace, the Roman poet and philosopher: ``People may change the sky above their heads when they cross the ocean but not their spirit.'' That's the cultural lesson, Aiello-style. ``I try to lift the bar by having intelligent things in there,'' he said.

Samuel D. Costanzo, an engineer, principal at Van Cleef Engineering Associates in Doylestown, and third-generation Italian American, was one of those featured in the ad. ``It's something that appeals to me,'' he said. ``I'm 100 percent Italian. I identify with my culture.''

Vincent Genovese, chairman of the Alliance of Italian-American Associations, also applauded what Aiello is trying to do. ``Johnny, through the ads, does confirm the Italian culture,'' he said. Exactly. Aiello, a crew-cut man who wears jeans and a black T-shirt topped with an open shirt, has an artsy look befitting a University of the Arts graduate.``The world didn't need another artist,'' he said, so he put his artwork - paintings and table sculptures - on hold while he pursues his book and other cultural projects.

Aiello flipped through his portfolio of ads, about 20 years old. Hairstyles have changed but not his message. ``My grandmother took a boat ride 60 years ago,'' he said. That didn't mean her culture - its customs and ways - ``just kind of evaporated.'' Aiello wasn't always so culturally astute.

``I just grew up an Italian,'' he said. When he left the old neighborhood in 1960, he realized that corporate success demanded assimilation. He could live with that. But first, he said, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was giving up. What exactly is an Italian? So began his search for identity. ``The culture was better than ever,'' Aiello said, a view he reached after much reading, many conversations with Italians, and a trip to the old country. He was determined to showcase it. Aiello headed the Italian American Bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia, and in 1978, he opened Caffe sud, a European-style restaurant and gathering spot on South Street. His foray into cultural ads began out of necessity. He couldn't afford publicity for the cafe, so he and his Italian business friends pooled money and placed a group photo, which included a smiling Aiello, under the headline: The Philadelphia Italians!

The ad spawned enough interest that Aiello started producing more ads that touted the Italian connection. And to prove his model could work for any culture, he also designed cultural ads for other groups, including Jews, Irish, Greeks and African Americans. After a 10-year hiatus to research more about his heritage, he revived the ads in 1995 under Aiello Cultural Productions. One has a tilted group photo a la the famed Pisa tower with a reference to the Leaning Tower of Delaware Valley. Another promotes Italian and Chinese restaurateurs with the inset, ``Who Really Invented Pasta?''

And one for Italian dentists has sketches of columns. ``These are not just columns,'' Aiello said, in his gruff voice. ``They're Etruscan columns.'' The upper-left corner says so. It also says that Etruscans invented gold bridgework, unsurpassed until the advent of modern dentistry. Aiello savors such historical morsels gleaned from his research and served up, like scrumptious tiramisu, in his ads.

``I work on these lines a lot,'' said the professional Italian, his two hours up, ``to prove not only that Italians are doing something, but that it's connected through the flow of history.''

Illustration:PHOTO

PHOTO
Johnny Aiello has ideas to save Italian culture that run beyond an ad campaign. Aiello, pictured with his artwork in his studio at Ninth and Spring Garden, wants to build a technology and cultural center in Italy. (CHARLES FOX / Inquirer Staff Photographer)
A sampling of the ads Aiello has designed. He took 10 years off from the work to research his heritage before starting them again in 1995.

“Towne Gallery”

2007-04-06T14:15:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1966

Victoria Donohoe

Johnny Aiello, who also accepts the importance of everyday and the ordinary, reveals a rare gift for remarkable pictorial invention and an obvious flair for color in both the soft and the bright range, in his oils and in the myriad small prints, gouaches and drawings displayed at the Towne Gallery, 2116 Locust St. Color and supple line often speak for themselves in Aiello’s very vital work which tends to be diagrammatic and telegraphic of reality rather than possessing the trivia of realism.

“Regional print show at Art Alliance”

2007-04-06T14:16:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - May 5, 1969

Victoria Donohoe

The modern upsurge of interest in drawings and prints in America is reflected in the “Regional Exhibition of Prints and Drawings” at the Art Alliance, 251 S. 18^th St., featuring 95 works selected from over 600 entries.

Competing for six prizes were artists from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware living within 50-mile radius of Philadelphia and artists connected with this city in a working capacity; judges were Edmund Casarella, Fritz Eichenberg and Jacob Landau, with Mrs. Philip Klein as ex-officio juror.

Predominately a show of small, moody and expressive works usually involving the human figure, the exhibit is a pleasantly varied, stimulating selection representing all the contemporary graphic mediums.

A minority viewpoint is presented by formalists Savelli, Coiner and Eichenberg, while artists who strike a lyrical note include Aiello, DeVivi, Drabkin, Kaplan, Kohn, Maxwell, Osborne and Petlock.

Amont the prize-winners, Johnny Aiello gives a good account of himself in a lilting “Blue Interior” lithograph.

“Aiello’s Bathers”

2007-04-06T14:12:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1965

Victoria Donohoe

Theme song of Johnny Aiello’s one-man show at Socrates Perakis Gallery, 2116 Locust ST., is “Bathers.”

In many media (oil, acrylic, pencil, gouache, pastel, linoleum) his impressions range from simple statements in line to intricately decorative compositions with Matisse or Leger in the background. There are hints also of Cezanne and Braque.

“At Towne Gallery”

2007-04-06T14:09:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1964

Victoria Donohoe

One of Philadelphia’s most promising young artists, Philadelphia College of Art–trained Johnny Aiello is soloing in prints at The Towne Gallery, 2116 Locust St.

Including etchings, lithographs, wood and linoleum cuts, the show stresses versatility in the handling of print media, and in adaptation of line to emotional reaction---fine and sensitive when the subject matter is old masterish; black, white and bold when it is surrealistic.

Aiello’s thinking is figurative, whether he deals with human or fantastic creatures. Flitting, perching, pouncing or darting through many of his compositions are bird shapes.

A series of nudes in interiors is matched by weirdly dismembered human limbs with or without bird accompaniment.

Aiello’s message often is cryptic. Recurring is a Picassoish donkey–headed creature that smacks of surrealistic satire. In “The Rescue” such a figure, holding a bird form, wades through black water; while in “Before and After” it is shown with an all-human nude.

Dismembered body parts and predatory birds shape the design of “The Attack.”

For such a study as “Dedee,” however (girl leaning head on arms), Aiello follows in the footsteps of the Impressionists.

Many of the black and white prints and a number of the color studies suggest the strong dual influence of Matisse and Picasso.

“Aiello Art”

2007-04-06T13:56:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Bulletin - 1966

Dorothy Grafly

Johnny Aiello has a show of figurative paintings and prints at Socrates Perakis Gallery, 2116 Locust St. that denotes personal growth. His pictures had a complex formal existence and strongly assorted colors that now are sometimes exchanged for a deepening palette and an evocative atmosphere less insulated from feeling and not so hedonistic. Although the old sensibility, freshness and robust character remain intact, his forms mostly sink into deep shadow now without coming into sharp focus.

Earl Kerkam Show: Elegant Fleshiness

2007-04-06T14:17:00.000-04:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 12, 1967
ART NEWS

Victoria Donohoe

The Earl Kerkam (1891-1965) show at Johnny Aiello's “Gallery Pane Vino,” 20^th Street at Pine, must surely be one of the best contemporary drawing exhibitions displayed in a gallery here. These 62 drawings have been lying unseen, mostly unknown except to a few scholars, and they come from the only large source of supply of the artist's work--- a collection of about 400 drawings and 200 oil paintings belonging to his son, E. Bruce Kirk, of Chestnut Hill, who displayed a few of the paintings at Wanamaker's last season and will show a larger group of the oils at New York's Zabriskie Gallery in January.

The drawings are nearly all spontaneous, unpretentious studies of the nude female figure and were created around the early 1950's as notes of fact and ideas rather than as developed essays. In their concentration of the artist's style, the few swift, decisive lines with a brush, chalk and watercolor speak with a personal intensity that tells us more than his painterly Cubist self-portraits or even his sensuous still lifes. And the finest of them have a weight, a sense of fleshiness and elegant informality of line that swing their lift into high art. Since drawings are an art for close-range inspection, the close grouping here, sometimes in double rows, favors them. This small gallery must be congratulated on its initiative in organizing the present show---a step that should long since have been taken by some of our more august institutions. It is also worth remembering that at the time of Kerkam's death, his friends deKooning, Guston, Rothko, Spaventa and Vicente petitioned the Museum of Modern Art to plan an exhibit in honor of this man who "in our eyes is one of the finest painters to come out America."

“Creative Spirit Soars Via Craftsmen’s Vitality”

2007-04-06T14:20:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Bulletin - 1967

Dorothy Grafly

VIETNAM DRAWINGS: Isa Barnett, one of four illustrators sent to Vietnam to sketch the war is exhibiting at Johnny Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”, 20^th St. South of Pine.

Featured in U.S. News and World Report, some of the original drawings are now on view here.

Barnett’s war coverage, however, goes back in history to the Revolution and the “Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown,” and progresses through the Civil War to the present. But while prior wars have been reconstructed via props (swords, uniforms, etc.), many of which are also included in the present show, the Vietnam conflict, with eye-witness experience, has a poignant first-hand validity that is not confined to battles and artifacts.

Barnett is a master in the handling of line, and among his unforgettable drawings are those of a Vietnamese mother, protectively fondling her baby; and a dead baby, prone and nude on the prongs of barbed wire.

“Gallery Pane Vino”

2007-04-06T14:21:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Bulletin - 1967

Dorothy Grafly

Run by artist, Johnny Aiello, “Gallery Pane Vino” is not a run-of-the-mill gallery.

Although it does stage solo of group shows, it likes to get its teeth into something less restricted.

Presently it has organized an exhibition that pairs the work of art with its reproduction to demonstrate visually that, however expert the printer, there is nothing like an original.

Resorting to work by masters, old and modern, and that by living local artists, the show amplifies its contention by presenting not one color reproduction of a specific work, but two or three ---each being slightly different in color value.

Black and white reproduction fares better when confined to drawings—-line or wash---but worse when used in lieu of color.

Simultaneously the gallery offers another explanatory exhibition dealing with the development of a lithograph. Including a process chart, the survey points up the many variations possible in the handling of a particular medium.

Three New Galleries Put Accent on Youth

2007-04-06T14:21:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Bulletin - April 30, 1967

Dorothy Grafly

One of the most promising art signs of the times is the interest being taken in young artists, supplemented by growing concern over what would seem to be a current lack of appreciation for the teaching of fundamentals.

Three galleries devoted to such problems have opened within the last year in city center: “Gallery Pane Vino” has opened with an unusually provocative show: “Anatomy’s Anatomy.”

Operated by young Philadelphia artist Johnny Aiello, the gallery is more interested in educating students and the public than in making sales. Nothing, in fact, may be bought from the current show since the greater part of it has been loaned by individuals and institutions.

Time was when anatomical casts were taken for granted in art school equipment. Now it is difficult to find them. There are two at “Gallery Pane Vino”, one dealing with the muscular structure of the arms, the other with that of the leg.

A skeleton lies in a glass case, and there are books on anatomy and fascinating anatomical notebooks spiced with color by Martha Erlebacher who, with husband Walter, came here from Pratt Institute, New York, to teach at the Philadelphia College of Art. (Presently Walter has embarked on the herculean task of translating the several hundred figures in Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling from painting to sculpture.)

How closely anatomical structure is tied in with modern art is suggested in figures by Jacob Landau who works more from knowledge of muscles and bones than from the externals of the human form.

Not dissimilar are improvisations on that form by Matisse, Giacometti and Di Chirico.

One anatomical sequence (also in a glass case) points up the bony structure of skulls from seagull and members of the canine family to the human head.

Philadelphia’s own Sidney Goodman introduces into one of his cryptic figures conceptions the anatomical construction of the rib cage, and a wing-like stretching out of what might be arm muscles.

Albert Gold contributes nude studies made for his students at the Philadelphia College of Art, and Dante Cattani, who also teaches there, offers plates from his anatomy book.

Isa Barnett @ Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”

2007-04-06T14:22:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1967

Victoria Donohoe

VIETNAM DRAWINGS: The purpose of Isa Barnett’s show at Johnny Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”, 20^th St. at Pine is to present everything involved with “the total illustrator” in one environment – props the artist collects such as Civil War uniforms, weaponry and primitive art objects found at old battle sites, together with the originals of some of Barnett’s recent, widely circulated magazine illustrations on the Civil War in color, and some of his latest charcoal drawings made in Vietnam on a special assignment for the U.S. Marine Corps. No doubt about it, Isa Barnett is an accomplished historical illustrator, and the puzzling out of meaning plays no part in the appreciation of his work.

Black and white has a terse directness that is masked here by use of color, especially since many of the elements in the final detailed color renderings have been transposed to produce decorative arrangements. Apparently this is one more exhibit that suggests the long-term rigid separation between artist and craftsman is breaking down – only recently it would have been considered anathema to display illustrations in an art gallery. Now the time is ripe to re-examine the work artists are doing for practical purposes.

Sidney Goodman @ Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”

2007-04-06T14:23:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - January 7, 1968

Victoria Donohoe

Sidney Goodman’s show of 56 paintings done since 1963, now on view at Johnny Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”, 20^th St. at Pine does an unusual thing by bringing together not only preliminary studies for finished paintings but scores of informal notebook sketches that as a rule are not seen in gallery exhibitions. Pencil, paper, charcoal and watercolor are used for realistic figure subjects, landscapes and still life. (Perhaps it should be mentioned in passing that young Sidney Goodman and Andrew Wyeth are the only local painters currently represented at the Whitney Annual in New York, and surprisingly this is the first local Goodman drawing exhibit since the Print Club featured his travel sketches about five years ago.) Here the artist proves himself a strong image-maker as well as a suspenseful story-teller. He seems to enjoy himself while retaining full control of his disciplines. It is a delightful show.

Aiello to Present 45 Year Collection

2007-04-06T14:27:00.000-04:00

GT Marketing Communications, Inc.

607 N. Fourth Street, Philadelphia, PA (215)629-1724 (215)275-0848 georgepolgar@aol.com

The "Aiello/Venus" Collection - - "POLIMORFICA" Series

Artist Johnny Aiello - 109 Twining Road, Oreland, PA (215)376-0334 info@AielloVenus.com

Philadelphia Artist Johnny Aiello

To Present 45 Year Collection

(1961 - 2006) From The "POLIMORFICA" Series

"Aiello & Venus"

Renowned Fortune 500 Image Maker and Branding Guru Ron Pompei

To Feature "Aiello & Venus" in his All New

C3 Gallery @ Pompei Architecture & Design, LLC

PHILADELPHIA, PA 11/17/06 -- A 45 year journey of prolific inspiration, enlightened research and a thirst for discovery has brought Philadelphia artist Johnny Aiello to a creative precipice.

In 2007 a major exhibition entitled "Aiello & Venus" comprising 60 works -- paintings, gouaches, drawings and prints -- will be presented by the artist at the C3 Gallery, New York City headquarters of renowned Fortune 500 image consultant, creative director of architecture and design, and brand maker Ron Pompei, also a scion of Philadelphia.

"The immense diversity held within Johnny Aiello's artistic oeuvre awakens our innate potential to simultaneously appreciate concept, shape, color, image, texture, line position, story, and our own erupting visions and worlds unfolding in a primordial grove down the lane from where we normally live," says Ron Pompei.

"We seldom remember the path leading there from our greener years. Aiello brings it around again. I become elated, and stilled, very grateful to weave amongst so many of his projections in a universe of Mediterranean light."

As the title suggests, women are the focus of the exhibit and Aiello's expertise in various styles, and the selection of works from various periods of his nearly five-decade career, gives this collection of nudes the distinction of being very different while being very similar.

"The show's title is headlined "POLIMORFICA" because this is the overall concept I use to define my artistic journey," explains Aiello, who began his career as a wide-eyed Philadelphia art student in Rome in the early 1960's.

Over time, Aiello's career led him into academia as an instructor at the University of The Arts, into business as the operator of the trendy Caffé sud on South Street, and ultimately as a pure entrepreneur with his development of the "Italian Directory" a long running advertising feature in Philadelphia magazine.

All the while, Aiello was on a tireless quest for vision and clarity. Immersing himself in his own Italian heritage he has exhaustively researched a book Italian Culture: The Next Italian Empire.

"It was in the course of my research and returning at various times to my art that I really crystallized the idea of 'POLIMORFICA' defining for me the transition and growth in the changing styles of art from realism to abstract, and the dozen major themes of my art, of which "Venus" is just one" says Aiello.

"After all, Italian culture did not flourish and emerge still vibrant for over 2, 500 years without Sincretismo, which is its own version of Polimorfica, and the linchpin of Italian creativity, the ability to bring together discordant entities into a purposeful harmony."

In addition to preparing for the C3 Gallery show curated by the celebrated Ron Pompei and attended by top New York collectors and critics, Johnny Aiello is creating a new website to showcase his work. The website: www.AielloVenus.com, will offer high quality Pigment Prints.

Ron Pompeii on Aiello

2007-04-06T14:25:00.000-04:00

"Quite recently I was surrounded and immersed within the numerous modes of thought and creative expression of Johnny Aiello. The immense diversity held within his artistic oeuvre awakens our innate potential to simultaneously appreciate concept, shape, color, image, texture, line position, story, and our own erupting visions and worlds unfolding in a primordial grove down the lane from where we normally live.

We seldom remember the path leading there from our greener years. Aiello brings it around again. So, I became elated, and stilled, very grateful to weave amongst so many of his projections in a universe of Mediterranean light."

Ron Pompei (2005)

Creative "Director, Pompei A.D. - Architecture & Design, Worldwide

"Johnny Aiello has developed a superb drawing ability, as evident in his paintings and prints. His draftsmanship appears spontaneous and one much look further to realize that all is underpinned with a solid tradition of excellence."

Dr. John Cataldo

Former Dean of the Massachusetts College of Art

"Johnny Aiello reveals a rare gift for remarkable pictorial invention. Color and supple line often speak for themselves in Aiello's very vital work.

Victoria Donohue

Art Critic, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"I have known and admired the art of Johnny Aiello since he began his professional career. He is a fine painter, draftsman and printmaker whose work reflects his sensitivity to materials and circumstances."

Ephraim Weinberg

Formerly: Dean of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts;

Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History;

Director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum

"The gift of drawing has been bestowed upon a chosen few over the centuries. This rare talent is immediately apparent in the work of Johnny Aiello."

Socrates Perakis

Perakis Gallery

"Johnny Aiello is among the smartest and most interesting thinkers on the subject of Italian culture."

Bill Tonelli

Author of The Amazing Story of the Tonelli Family in America;

Editor of The Italian American Reader;

Former Editor at Esquire, Rolling Stone and Spin Magazines

A New York City Critic's Review

"The first thing that strikes me about Johnny Aiello's work is its dazzling fecundity: dozens of paintings and drawings in a great variety of shapes and themes run amok. The images bespeak an irrepressible protean energy that is capable of taking any shape with absolute vigor and conviction.

This thoroughly polymorphous approach is genuinely rare.* One can compare such a simultaneous multidirectional production only to the example of Picabia among major artists of this century. Useful parallels can also be drawn, to a lesser extent, with Man Ray and Duchamp as well, of course their immediate multi-faceted predecessors, the Italian Futurists.

The paintings are acrylic; Bright, almost cartoonish, colors predominate. They are about evenly divided between figurative and abstract. Standing out among the figurative paintings is a series comprising a very traditional genre: the reclining nude. Yet this do not have at all the air of tradition. A pure unmixed cartoonish black is used very effectively to underscore and offset portions of anatomy into high good-humored relief. Common to all the work in the room is its mastery rendering in just a few deft strokes.

It's not quite as startling to find such economy being exercised in the drawings. These deal with themes reflected in the figurative paintings: contemporary venus, groups of women bathing in sylvan glades. But these are not studies in any sense. They are highly finished, if quite simplified, pencil renderings. The human figure is glorified here for its formal qualities taken possession of by the uncannily sure hand of Aiello who is yet possessed by its elegant simplicities and mysteries of form.

The abstractions are, if such a thing is possible, contemplative in a way the figurative works are not. It's as if Aiello has invested his figures with such concentrated starkness that he had only ruminative qualities left for his abstractions. Perhaps this is a further application of the controposto which is prominent throughout all his work. The abstractions are color studies compositionally, rectangles of color relating hesitatingly, tenderly with each other, unified by the intricate balancing of baroque-controposto and by an overall veiled, nearly sibylline quality.

It's unusual to see an artist boldly exhibiting so may aspects at once. It's very gratifying to see here. The figures and the abstract shapes complement each other wonderfully. It is a rare example of devil-may-care virtuosity, a stimulating flaunting, on may levels, of convention and, certainly, of caution."

A. diFelice (1988)

Former New York City Gallery Director

(Serra diFelice) & Art Critic

*More lately, Gerhard Richter & brand new "Multiple Personalities" (see April 2006/ARTnews)

Johnny Aiello's Caffè sud has a real South Street flavor

2007-04-06T14:34:00.000-04:00

South Jersey’s Courier-Post - June 26, 1983

Nila Aronow

South Street Saturday Night sounds like a title for a youth cult film. And the cast of characters walking around South Street in Philadelphia on a summer evening could certainly populate a movie.

There are preppies and punks. There are toughs and wimps and hand-holding couples of every sexual persuasion. There are teeny-boppers smoking whatever it is they smoke and tanned, middle-aged women working at looking young in their T-shirts and wrap skirts. They park their motorcycles and their Mercedes to walk on South Street.

There’s no problem eating out in this neighborhood. Everyone can find his level---in the touristy terraces of New Market, in the pizza and sub shops that line the streets or in some of the finest restaurants in Philadelphia or any town.

What we went looking for the other night was a place where the South Street scene continued inside as well as out and we were lucky enough to stumble into Johnny Aiello’s Caffè sud, an admirable blend of South Italy and South Philadelphia.

Dark paint and muted lighting over a multitude of sins here. The effect is funkily attractive, with really interesting art deco floor lamps and table fixtures and many quality posters and prints that lean heavily toward bare breasts. This is, by the way, not a family place. We have good feelings toward them, the menu reads, but “for a variety of reasons, WE DO NOT SERVE CHILDREN.”

We weren’t shocked by the art work but we were a little taken back by the wine list---nothing under $20. So we drank our wine by the glass ($2.50), and a pretty green-stemmed glass it was.

The menu is chatty and effusive. It not only lists all the ingredients you can expect, but adds messages such as, “My mother’s recipe so watch out what you say.” And such unattributed quotes as “The best lasagna I ever ate.”

We didn’t taste the lasagna but I’ll bet it is the best because the dishes we tried were superb, lustily and inventively seasoned and beautifully presented.

“specialsudsalad.” included in the price of dinner was heaped with the freshest romaine, tomatoes, black olives, mushrooms and more---topped with cheese and an absolutely delicious, piquant dressing.

Gambaretto ($12.95) is an entrée so artfully arranged that there’s a right and wrong way to position it on the table. Our server accidentally got it backward then reversed himself so the shrimp faced the diner with the broccoli sprigs as backdrop. The shrimp and vegetables---zucchini, asparagus, et al---were perfectly cooked and the sauce was an excellent blend of flavors.

The many vegetables with the Calabrian quiche were served cold, crisp and tangy with marinade. The quiche itself ($7.95) was hearty with pepperoni and several types of cheese, another strong and interesting flavor. What we have here is a kitchen that is not afraid to make a statement.

Desserts at Johnny Aiello's Caffé sud are gorgeous, displayed enticingly in a case by the door. We tried a special called Josephine, a large floppy cookie-shell filled with the finest fruit---berries, grapes, peaches, kiwi---and topped with whipped, all as fresh as today.

Caffé sud would be a great place for dessert and coffee or drinks---a fine chance to sit back and enjoy the South Street scene.

Caffé sud

2007-04-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Daily News - April 7, 1978

“Caffé sud”

Driving along South Street near 4^th, you may be intrigued by an eye-catching place that demands investigation. It’s a most unusual Italian coffee shop with striking, art-deco décor and it is called Johnny Aiello's Caffé sud.

If you yearn for a late night snack after a show at the TLA or Grendel’s Lair you might want to sample an unusual open face sandwich that includes imported Swiss, Genoa salami, prosciutto, capocolla, provolone and pepperoni with olives, peppers, anchovies and olive oil. It is a small masterpiece.

We were also impressed with carrot soup and some superior Italian pastries. The unusual place also carries a full line of imported sodas in addition to the espresso, cappuccino and other refreshments.

Caffé sud - Culinary Comments

2007-04-06T14:36:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Gay News - October, 1979

“Culinary Comments”

Though there are now many attractive restaurants in Center City Philadelphia, I would list Johnny Aiello’s Caffé sud among the top two in the consistency and beauty of its décor. The theme opens with the beckoning, dimly lit purple neon lit window through which can be glimpsed the beautifully scribed menu and the bar with its enormous eagle-surmounted espresso urn.

The interior is filled with a mixture of original photographs, a few plants in a curved wooden planter and small tables with attractive ice cream parlor-style chairs. A few beautiful and eclectic antique collectables grace the available spaces by the walls and planter and the walls are starkly black. Silverware and glassware are equally attractive.

Our pheasant pate was attractive and very good, with a mild flavor, and was served with firm, fragrant black bread and quite exceptional black olives, from Italy no doubt. The quiche was two good-sized pieces in an unusual rectangular shape and had the pleasing texture and taste of crumbly cheese and a rich egg custard base.

Shrimp scampi was beautiful to look at and delicious to taste. The appearance was enhanced by leaving the tails unshelled on the shrimp, and the taste was rich with garlic butter. It was served over al dente Italian rice. The special of the day was a fine fish mousse with a clear flavor of fresh fish and butter set off by a tinge of vinegar tartness.

The house salad was large and enjoyable and included both romaine and bib lettuce mixed with tomatoes, rounds of Bermuda onion, a taste of Italian tuna and a good vinegar-and-oil dressing. Most dishes are also accompanied by marvelous wrinkled black olives band fresh warm Armenian pita bread.

The atmosphere is absolutely perfect for after the theater and the food is both slightly unusual and original and very, very good. It is also conveniently located around the corner from the Gay Community Center. Combining a visit to the Center and Caffé sud makes a nice evening.

Caffé sud - Coffee with a European flavor

2007-04-06T14:37:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - November 19, 1982

At Johnny Aiello's Caffé sud, coffee is served in glass cups that let you see the white milk on top of the dark coffee, a nice touch. Lights are low, the mood is romantic, the food is good. A cannoli was fat with ricotta cheese filling studded with ground hazelnuts and chocolate.

Caffé sud - closed while Johnny visits Italy

2007-04-06T14:38:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer - July 31, 1979

John Corr

RESTAURANTS: Johnny Aiello's Caffé sud on South Street will be closed from Aug. 12 to Sept. 14 because owner Johnny Aiello is going to Italy to set up a small, free art school for children in a village in Calabria. Coincidentally, the village is called Filadelfia, and it is close to the town in which Mayor Frank L. Rizzo’s father was born.

Caffé sud - first set dinners

Planting The Seeds Of Global Empire

In Filadelphia, art and liquor mix well

The Philadelphia Inquirer - February 7, 1979

Ethnic groups unite, aid business, imageAdvertising Age - June 30, 1980

The Roots of Italy Are Deep

Caffé sud wins Philadelphia magazine's "Best of Philly" Awards!

A man with a plan to preserve all things Italian

“Towne Gallery”

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1966

“Regional print show at Art Alliance”

“Aiello’s Bathers”

“At Towne Gallery”

“Aiello Art”

Earl Kerkam Show: Elegant Fleshiness

The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 12, 1967ART NEWS

“Creative Spirit Soars Via Craftsmen’s Vitality”

“Gallery Pane Vino”

Philadelphia Bulletin - 1967

Three New Galleries Put Accent on Youth

Philadelphia Bulletin - April 30, 1967

Isa Barnett @ Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”

Philadelphia Inquirer - 1967

Sidney Goodman @ Aiello’s “Gallery Pane Vino”

Philadelphia Inquirer - January 7, 1968

Aiello to Present 45 Year Collection

Ron Pompeii on Aiello

Johnny Aiello's Caffè sud has a real South Street flavor

Nila Aronow

Caffé sud would be a great place for dessert and coffee or drinks---a fine chance to sit back and enjoy the South Street scene.

Caffé sud

“Caffé sud”

Caffé sud - Culinary Comments

Philadelphia Gay News - October, 1979

“Culinary Comments”

Caffé sud - Coffee with a European flavor

Philadelphia Inquirer - November 19, 1982

Caffé sud - closed while Johnny visits Italy

The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 12, 1967
ART NEWS