Francis Di Fronzo

About

In 2004, Philadelphia painter Francis Di Fronzo was awarded one of twelve Pew Fellowship in the Arts.  During this pivotal moment in his artistic career, landscape painting became “a stage for everything in life. Anyone who looks at a landscape painting can identify immediately.” In his paintings, Di Fronzo depicts highly realistic scenes of the natural world, which are both beautiful and poetic, but also deeply mysterious, and at times ominous and foreboding.

Di Fronzo’s painting technique has helped to underscore his outlook.  He works with a “comb brush”, of his own design, comprised of 60-80 individual hairs attached to a wooden stick.  Using this comb, he creates images of open fields and rolling hills by tapping the hairs onto a toned panel.  After many layers, the result is an infinite expanse of individual blades of grass, rich in tone, detail and hue.  Di Fronzo has also experimented with a new technique to paint seascapes, creating sweeping scenes of open water that are rich and complex in color and depth.

Born in California in 1969, Francis received his B.F.A at the University of California, Fullerton.  He then came east to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he earned his M.F.A. in 1998.  Francis was also awarded the Liquitex, Art in America University Award in 1993, and the Stobbart Foundation Fellowship in the Arts Award in 1998.  In 2007, Di Fronzo was featured in the June issue of Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine’s article “Making Their Mark: Three to Watch”.

Exhibitions at Somerville Manning Gallery

2018        The Half-Life of Dreams (Part 2)

2015         The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 5)

2012         Earth, Sea and Sky: Michael Doyle, Francis Gregory Di Fronzo, Christine Lafuente

2008         Recent Works

2006         Oil Paintings

Selected Exhibitions

2020         Proof of Life, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019         Parallels, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2019         Introducing: Francis DiFronzo, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2018         Storytellers, Francis DiFronzo & Victoria Wyeth, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia,
PA

2016         The Half-Life of Dreams, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2014         A Moments Respite, Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC

2013         The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 3), Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2011         The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 2), Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2010         The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 1), Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2010         Inland Empire (Part 3), Haen Gallery, Asheville, NC

2009         Inland Empire (Part 2), Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM

2009         Inland Empire (Part 1), Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2007         Oil Paintings, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2005         Sunday, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2004         Anxiety Descending, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2002         Trying Light, Rosenfeld Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Education

1998         MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

1994         BFA, California State University, Fullerton, CA

Awards and Honors

2016        Artwork featured throughout Season 2 of “Better Call Saul”, Sony Pictures

2004         Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Painting

1998         Stobart Foundation Fellowship Award, Landscape Painting

1993         Art in America Excellence in Art University Award, Undergraduate

1991         Southern California Art Alliance Fellowship Award, Painting

• About