Landscape paintings and weathered American scenes
Francis Di Fronzo paints landscapes in which precise natural detail meets an atmosphere of uncertainty. Weathered rail cars, roadside signs and open fields become the setting for scenes that feel familiar yet quietly mysterious. Explore the paintings presented by J. Willott Gallery in Palm Desert, and read the artist's account of the layered techniques behind his landscapes.
Collecting and viewing
Look for the contrast between the open landscape and the built structures within it: a freight car's doorway can frame the distance, while a worn sign changes the balance of an otherwise quiet scene. View each artwork's details and ask the gallery which works are currently available to discuss or view.
Available works 5 selected
Selected sold works
One 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, he 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. Di Fronzo 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”
American Art Collector interviewed Di Fronzo in the March 2008 issue editorial article “Dreaming the Impossible.”
Born November 15, 1969 in San Pedro, California
EDUCATION
1998 MFA, Painting. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
1994 BFA, Painting. California State University, Fullerton.
AWARDS
2004 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Painting.
1998 Stobart Foundation Fellowship in the Arts.
1993 Liquitex/Art in America University Award
