Installation view of Tony Calzetta, Love Ditties. Photo: Walter Willems. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
When first approaching Tony Calzetta’s Love Ditties drawings, I was unsure of what to make of the colorful and fantastical pieces before me. Representations of industrial vehicles, cloudy skies, and other-worldly landscapes are paired with titles reminiscent of 1980s pop lyrics.
“If Your Heart Aches…” features a yellow muffler-shaped object; animalized with legs, one wearing a brown boot, the object expels orange gaseous clouds. It is uncertain what this structure is suppose to represent, what it is suppose to be doing. This ambiguity characterizes the majority of Calzetta’s pastel creations. In the gallery the drawings hang uncovered, as such, their material impressions become visible to the naked eye. The paper warps under the weight of the pastels, the heavy graphite carves into the background, and the pastels have layered, all creating a deep awareness of tactility. Calzetta’s images beg to be explored; they create an environment that appeal to the senses. I wanted to (perhaps after donning a hazmat suit) walk over the pink ground in “Nemmeno una Lacrima (Not Even a Tear)”, fly the plane through the blue green sky of “So I Don’t Have to Dream Alone”, and traverse the stormy waves of “You Can’t Take That Away From Me”.
Tony Calzetta, “If Your Heart Aches…”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 35 x 39 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
Tony Calzetta, “Nemmeno una Lacrima (Not Even a Tear)”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 30 x 38 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
Yet, I found that I most wanted to be on the yellow submarine in “I Found My World in You!”. “So we sailed up to the sun ’til we found the sea of green, and we lived beneath the waves in our yellow submarine,” it is with these Beatles lyrics echoing in my head that I found myself transposed. It is the whimsical nature of “Yellow Submarine” that reflects the playful nature of Calzetta’s images. The bright bold colors and fun shapes invite the viewer to approach these machines, rather than fear their unknown mechanics.
Tony Calzetta, “I Found My World in You!”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 29 x 40 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
What I believe to be the most interesting of Calzetta’s show is “You Make My Heart Sing” (2003). The largest of the pieces, this stunning scene was done completely in grayscale. Like separating pastel from one of its most characteristic features, color; the scene completely isolates the viewer from the harlequin world otherwise depicted. Did this work, with similar fictional machinery, swirling clouds, and dirty sky, set an evolutionary president for today’s pieces? It seems so.
Tony Calzetta, “You Make My Heart Sing”, 2003, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 53 x 74 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
The works, almost diorama like in nature, present the viewer with a brilliant fictional world (or worlds) for one to explore. Corrado De Luca, of De Luca Fine Art, spoke to me about the artist’s hesitation revolving the project, but confirmed that the show had been a success, a fact I found unsurprising.
Brinae Bain
* Exhibition information: November 15 – December 6, 2014, De Luca Fine Art / Gallery, 217 Avenue Road, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat: 11 – 6 p.m.
Featured image: Tony Calzetta , “You Are So Beautiful”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 30.0 x 42.0 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art / Gallery
Such an exhilerating show. Such a super sense of whimsy and child like joy in these works. I loved the colour palette against the graphite electricity of his line work…the lemons and oranges jumping at the eye, and the (literally) flights of unrestrained fancy in Tony’s new works.