ABOUT THE ARTIST

Francesco Lombardo b.1980

Using oil paint as his medium and the human figure as his subject, Francesco Lombardo creates work that incorporates layering, repetition, wind, and translucent form to generate an undulating union of figure, cloth, and sky. His influences from the past include the linear elegance of the High Renaissance, the dynamic postures of Early Mannerist figures, and the folds within folds of Baroque sculpture, including a contemporary eye towards the works of Jenny Saville, Euan Uglow, Robert Liberace, and Odd Nerdrum.

Along with his enthusiasm for the painted human form is a lifelong grappling with colorblindness.  Far from having a negative impact on his painting this complication has ultimately been productive.  As an obstacle that must be overcome or an impasse to be creatively flanked his struggle with color has produced numerous strengths, both aesthetic and technical, that could not exist otherwise.  He possesses an ability to distinguish minute differences in gradients of value, allowing for a delicate and precise use of light, along with a capacity to maximize the potential inherent in careful shifts of temperature.  His use of composition takes on an aesthetic concerned more with complex spatial interactions and trajectories of motion than the application of hue.

  Lombardo acquired training in art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, receiving his B.A. in painting in 2002 and shortly thereafter studying with the painter Odd Nerdrum in Norway.  This personal mentorship reinforced Lombardo’s commitment towards the creation of a painted narrative that is felt through contemplation rather than told outright.  In 2004 he was awarded a Fulbright to study for a year in Iceland and found long-lasting influence in the cold glowing skies of summer nights that never went dark.  

His paintings have been on display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. and featured in the 2010 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition after being selected from the submissions of over 3,300 other artists.  Lombardo’s portrait “Monique” was featured in the publication Art in America (2011-2012 annual gallery/museum guide), and has been used in a 2011 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery advertisement.  His latest body of work features 22 pieces done on location in Florence, Italy during the spring of 2011.

Currently he resides in Marshall, North Carolina and works from a studio located on Blanahassett Island in the French Broad River.

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