statement

My work is an investigation into the impact of uneasiness and distortion inherent in the visual image: as it is received by the viewer and in his own relationship to the image.

Classically trained, I have been working as an artist full time for thirty-six years, and my work has been described as "interpretive realism" and as "unconventionally surreal." This may be because I am fairly precise in the manipulation of the medium and many of my works are drawn directly from life, although my art is always a response to the subject, rather than simply its re-presentation.

In this overarching project of experiencing and communicating the unease of the everyday, my work is in dialogue with, for example, the paintings of Christiane Pflug, Lucian Freud and Antonio Lopez Garcia.

Charcoal renderings are used for compositional information, but they are also constructed to stand on their own as finished artworks. I tend to 'feel' the weight of the pencil on the flat surface, using touch as a means of exploring subconsciously in conjunction with the external physical action of line and tonal shading. Not all my drawings are for painting references only, however. They may be also a means to an end and cannot go any further in development of the idea or statement. Drawing, for me, is an integral part of the artist's thought process and without it, a connection or link to a completed painting is missing. That void left by not filtering through oneself with the task of study can detach the artist from the finalized painting and may also distance the viewer. Each work, be it a single tree, a decaying building, or a fragrant bowl of fruit, should ultimately unfold as a self-portrait. Not necessarily as a likeness, but as a feeling, a 'hum.' Drawing starts that journey.

Tony Luciani is represented by Loch Gallery in Toronto/Winnipeg/Calgary.
His work is in important private and corporate collections throughout Canada and internationally.

bio

born: 1956, Toronto, Canada

education

Ontario College of Art, AOCA, Toronto, Canada, 1977
Ontario College of Art, post graduate study, Florence, Italy, 1978

selected awards/honors

Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant, 2014
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, 1989, 1980, 1978
Canada Council "B" Grant, 1981
George A. Reid Scholarship, Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Canada, 1977

selected publications

Creative Quarterly, The Journal of Art & Design, CQ35, 2014
AGAVE Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 1, (cover), Summer/Fall, 2013
American Artist Magazine, "Drawing Edition", Winter, 2008
Mozaic Magazine,"The Creative Process: An Emotional Adventure", November/December, 2006

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Wellington County Museum & Archives, 'The Art of Tony Luciani', Fergus, Ontario, Canada, 2012
Durham Public Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario, Canada, 'Transitions', 2009-10
Galerie Crescent Contemporain, 'From Da Vinci to Freud', Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 2007
Loch Gallery, 'Layered Reality', Toronto, Ontario, Canada,  2005

selected group shows

WHYTE MUSEUM of the CANADIAN ROCKIES, 'Portraiture: The Art of Portraiture from the 1920s to Present Day', Banff, Alberta, Canada, 2014
Museo Europeo de'Arte Moderno (MEAM), Figurativas '13 Painting and Sculpture Competition, Barcelona, Spain, 2013
The Kingston Prize, Canada's National Juried Portrait Competition, Touring, Finalist, 2013, 2011, 2009
Federation Gallery, 'AIRS', Federation of Canadian Artists Juried Competition, Granville Island, Vancouver, Britsh Columbia, Canada