Dom Di Lallo’s Fantastic Fantasy Art Show
Saturday 9 June – Friday 22 June
Opening Reception Saturday 16 June 7pm
Using a mixture of a couple cut and paste collages, acrylic paintings, water colour paintings, a pen and ink poster board design, my artwork reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces. The main theme I wanted to express is Fantasy, whether it be sci-fi fantasy, or medieval fantasy, urban fantasy, etc… The work is also influenced by Fauvism and expressionism. The reason I like sci fi as a subject so much is because of movies like George Lucas’s Star Wars and the Star Treck series. For Star Wars George Lucas went back to the origins of Sci-fi such as the old Buck Rogers television serial film of 1939 to create the opening credits for his Star Wars films and to utilize some of the themes. For instance, Buck Rogers and his young friend Buddy Wade crash their dirigible in the Arctic wastes. When they are eventually rescued by scientists, they learn that 500 years have passed. A tyrannical dictator named Killer Kane and his henchmen now run the world. Buck and Buddy must now save the world, similar to how Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and they’re small group of friends and band of Rebel Alliance must defeat the tyrannical dictator the Emperor, the mighty dark lord Darth Vader and the entire Evil Galactic Empire. These Star Wars type science fiction themes can be noticed in the collage: The Prehistoric/Modern/Future Collage.
I’m also very interested in Star Trek as science fiction as it inspired me to create the The Prehistoric/Modern/Future Collage. It is particularly based off of the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. After the destruction of the moon Prazis leads the Klingon Empire to sue for peace with their long-time adversary the Federation, the crew of the USS Enterprise must race against unseen conspirators with a militaristic agenda. Director Nicolas Meyer and cinematographer Hiro Narita aimed for a darker more dramatic mood than the previous Star Trek offerings, which I incorporate into the Line themed – Star Trek Poster. The poster has that dark, dramatic mood to it. For this film Meyer wanted the Enterprise interiors to feel grittier and more realistic; the metal was worn around the edges to look used without looking beat up.
The work is also influenced by Fauvism as it utilizes the stylized lines, curves and brilliant unrealistic colour to create and heighten the sense of nature idealized which I try to incorporate into a Fantasy type theme. The fauves rejected the impressionist palette of soft, shimmering tones in favor of radical new style, full of violent color and bold distortions. The movement in French painting in the early 1900s revolutionized the concept of color in modern art which I convey in Girl With Plant and Horses and Shapes.
The Expressionism movement was frequently distorted, or otherwise altered and fits into the Fantasy theme I’m trying to create. Landmarks of this movement were violent colors and exaggerated lines that helped contain intense emotional expression. Expressionist were trying to pinpoint the expression of inner experience rather than solely realistic portrayal, seeking to depict not objective reality but the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in them. I incorporated expressionism in Sun & Moon and The Fabric Collage.
This work would be my first showing so I tried to use as many materials as possible ie., cut-and-paste, acrylic paints, pen and ink, markers, pencil crayons, etc… These materials were collected at Michaels art supply store in Saint Catharines. Other materials such as straws for Line themed – Star Trek Poster, fabric and small gold rings for The Fabric Collage, stickers and action figures for the The Prehistoric/Modern/Future Collage were bought at stores such as Toys Are Us and various dollar stores around Saint Catharines. These materials are important because I use them to do a variety of styles – not just one style – to show my diversity as an artist. The materials really help bring out the Fantasy theme I want to incorporate in this showing. Since, Stephen Remus and the Niagara Artists Centre are investing a lot of time, money and wall space into the art, I wanted to show them some promise. I wanted to show the NAC that I’m serious about my art and about being a member, and that I am committed to being an artist and showing my art for many years to come. Basically I’m painting these images to reproduce familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces. I’m also painting the images to show a predominant fantasy – type theme throughout most of the works. Whether it be sci-fi fantasy, urban fantasy or medieval fantasy.
– Dom Di Lallo
