This is an interview with the Wien Academy of Fine Arts graduate, Michael Mazzotta. In the interview, Mazzotta discusses his time spent in the academy and shows off some of his favorite pieces.
I think the most interesting thing for me is that I have so many fond memories of my time at Wien. While I was there, I took a class with John Mariani and we discussed all kinds of things ranging from art history to the ethics of art. I was so captivated by John’s class that I applied for and was accepted into the Academy of Fine Arts in New York. I was completely blown away by my first day there and couldn’t wait to get back.
The Wien Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1854 by Thomas Alva Edison. During his lifetime, he donated over $100 million to the institution to help fund new art and architecture. Alva Edison was also one of the most celebrated inventors, and he invented several key technologies that allowed him to create his incredible inventions. He passed away in 1951 at the age of 77 after a long battle with cancer.
I had no idea I was going to get to spend time with Thomas Alva Edison so soon. I took a tour of the room where he used to work, and was blown away by the light bulbs he used during the day. He was a very hands-on inventor, and to see him in action was like watching a Renaissance painter in action. He also loved to paint, and there were a lot of paintings in the room.
I also had to see the room where he used to paint his most famous creations, the rotating picture window in his studio. There’s a bunch of different rotating panels, and each has its own name. One of the panels depicts the birth of Christ, another, Moses being raised up from the dead, and the last, the life of Jesus. It’s all very moving, and I really wish I could see what Thomas Alva Edison was doing all day at his studio.
Alva Edison is a remarkable man. He was a great inventor, but he also did a lot of art. In his own words, he said that he enjoyed “painting so much that it sometimes almost becomes a profession.” A brilliant man who died of a stroke only a year after inventing the light bulb, he was also an inventor of many other things, from the light bulb to the light bulb to the telephone. That was in addition to his artistic endeavor.
While Edison was indeed a great inventor, it seems that he kept a lot of his inventions and art hidden from the public. For example, he gave most of his art to other people who loved the idea of invention, but they didn’t have the money to buy it (Edison didn’t really charge for his art because he was broke).
It’s not like this was just a bunch of cheap tricks and tricksy tricks to get people to pay for Edison’s inventions. This is actually a really important concept in our book because Edison wasn’t just an inventor. He was also a businessman who also had a deep passion for inventing and selling his inventions. In fact, after many years of success, Edison was broke and wanted to give up the art of invention and put it in the hands of the public.
Edison used to sit there and talk to the people of Philadelphia about his inventions and the value of them. He could be a bit intimidating, but if you give him a chance he can be really, really great at explaining why something is good or bad.
The guy who created the first light bulb? He was a billionaire who had a deep desire for art and inventing. He spent a lot of time talking to people like the inventor of the light bulb.
