About
I was born on the Canadian prairies, in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, to parents of Italian and Portuguese origin. I now find myself splitting my time between Canada and Europe, teaching, completing commissions and painting works following my own inspirations.
After high school I enrolled in biology, chemistry and other pre-med courses at the University of Calgary, where I often found myself doodling portraits of my instructors and classmates in my notes rather than following the lectures. When I graduated from the U of C, it was with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, not an MD. I followed that up with an Education degree from the University of British Columbia, and six adventurous years teaching art to grade school students back in Calgary.
In the late 1990s, my desire to immerse myself in my art swept me forward towards a world I once thought I could only dream of. My interest deeply rooted in figurative work and seeking to broaden my skills as a painter, I left the city of my birth to learn the traditions of my craft in the historical heartland of classical figurative painting, Florence.
My early influences were mainly comics; figurative art with grand stories to which the western tradition had been reduced. The Greeks had Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, we have The X-Men. The Renaissance produced Michelangelo, the 20th Century Jack Kirby. Now living and studying in Italy
I could actually stand in front of works by Michelangelo as well as Titian, Caravaggio, and countless others —artists I’d only seen in books. I also discovered the work of Michael John Angel, who had studied with noted Italian master figurative painter Pietro Annigoni. Angel’s life work was to resurrect the academic traditions of 19th Century French schools and invest them with a contemporary flavor. I ended up studying and teaching at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, completing diplomas in Drawing and Painting.
From 2009 to 2010, I attended a masters program at The European University/Pontifical Athenaeum, ‘Regina Apostolorum’ in Rome. This Master’s degree in Architecture, Sacred Art and Liturgy was developed by top international artists, architects and priests in response to Pope Benedict’s call for a renewal of the liturgy. Geared specifically towards artists and architects, courses covered areas that included philosophy, theology and history. This training in the Grand Catholic Traditions gave me a history to pull from and clearly defined a tradition that I wanted to be a part of.
This tradition places the depiction of the human figure as the highest possible artistic statement. I attempt to move forward in line with that tradition which flourished from the 12th to 19th Centuries, but was supplanted by modernism. Painting is a language with a long history. It connects us to where we have been and can still speak about what is going on today.
My paintings takes inspiration from this depiction and the dominant themes found in European cultural history, which includes biblical personalities, allegorical stories, ancient myths and fairy tales. I look at how these are appropriated, adapted and perceived by contemporary culture. This inspiration spans centuries and continents, from Hellenistic Greek sculpture, Byzantine icons, and Renaissance frescoes, to the American comic book and modern cinema.
I strive to not simply copy the work of past masters but continuously move forward with work that is both radically traditional and of our time.This requires me to embrace both roles of the artist: artisan and intellectual. As an artisian, the artist needs to be a master of his craft so that it does not stand in the way of his expression. As an intellectual, he needs to constantly review his process and progress in line with his chosen goals.
To this end, my research focuses on historical painting methods and styles and the historical, philosophical, and theological milieus in which they arose. I am continually evaluating these areas in relation to current trends and philosophies. Using the best of modern materials combined with time-honoured methods it is my hope that my painting can be contemporary yet eternal.