September 7 – 18, 2011
Opening: Wednesday, September 7, 6 – 9 Artist in attendance
Thompson Landry Gallery
The Distillery District
55 Mill Street, Building 5, #102
& The Cooperage Building #32
Toronto, Ontario, M5A 3C4
Tel: 416-364-4955
E-mail:info@thompsonlandry.com
www.thompsonlandry.com
Hours: Tues – Sat 11-6, Sun 12-5
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Elisabetta Fantone has always demonstrated tremendous ability in all things creative. In her early career, Elisabetta’s passion for performance art has lead her to excel in both modeling and acting, however, she was always drawn to the visual arts. Having studied interior design at LaSalle College, her love of the arts developed into a strong talent for portraiture. Fantone’s foray into portraiture began with a series of expressive abstract faces she created in 2006. Soon after, she began developing her figurative skills by depicting identifiable icons of pop culture.
Fantone’s contemporary approach to portrait painting has been described as “modern pop art”. Using acrylic on canvas, and a minimalist palette, she paints iconic faces in a close-up and cropped composition. Limiting herself to three or four bold colours per piece, she separates the face of her subject by hand into large planes of colour that she fills in with an opaque layer of paint. She finishes the work with a thick coat of glassy varnish, sealing her icons in space and time. Fantone’s style is one which reflects her personal interest in and experience with pop culture, cinema and the concept of celebrity. Her pieces explore the beauty which is often broken down by the media, but is reborn and timelessly preserved in her artwork. The result is a dazzling stylized portrait of brilliant colours that captivates the viewer.
Since gaining artistic success in 2006, Elisabetta Fantone has had solo exhibitions in both her home town of Montreal and Miami. She has also produced special commissions for celebrities such as the Thomas Flohr, Kardashian sisters, Gretchen Rossi and Russell Peters. She is the newest addition to the Thompson Landry Gallery’s all-Quebec roster, and a rising star on the international art scene.
This year, the Toronto Film Festival has inspired the artist to produce a brand new series of works based on the faces of film. Her portraits will include a combination of classic and modern icons which will undoubtedly draw a crowd during the city’s exciting and dynamic festival.