Vincent Desiderio

by Donato

This past week's lectures and presentations to my classes and a gallery talk at the Huntsville Museum of Art left me thinking about an artist who has continued to inspire me year after year.  Vincent Desiderio creates some of the most stunning emotionally ambiguous works that I know.  From his massive work representing art history within books to the sublime paintings of his children, I am constantly moved by both his technical virtuosity and passionate narratives.  I feel both conceptually uneasy and sensually seduced in front of his works, a tension born of his effective marriage of disparate art forms - the cerebral modernist and technical classicalist.



His paintings are luminous, generated through layer upon layer of glazing and deft alla-prima painting, and most oimportantly he is not afraid to paint large, very large. If you can find his book Vincent-Desiderio-Paintings-1975-2005, pick it up.  It is well worth the $150 in what it can do for your conceptual development.



Vincent is represented by Marlborough Gallery in New York City.  While there are not pending exhibitions of his art planned, keep your eye out for his work.  You will not be disappointed no matter how far you must travel to view it first hand...