Artist Profile
Contemporary figural painter Frank Bruno creates his work out of his home studio in Collegeville, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 1990 Bruno has been part of over 25 group exhibits in New York City. Other numerous shows in Philadelphia and various galleries in eastern PA have given this artist and art instructor an outlet for his innovative styles.
Bruno often breaks conformity with his use of latex gloves and palette knives rather than paint brushes. Accents of mixed media are often found in the colorful spontaneous action paintings which he is known for. The chosen flavor is oils and enamel paints or acrylics on either wood panels or canvas. Sizes range from 20" x 16" to 5’ x 5’.
"The figure in itself is art" Bruno exclaims. "I bring out the design oriented strengths".
Forms, contours, masses and volumes are stylized while details are muted or exaggerated. His best known series shows a mixture of Greek and Roman renaissance figures inspired by his studies in art history. The artist takes these strong characters and converts them into thought provoking scenes showing expression, emotion, or abstract composition.
Another recent series titled "Sonic Canon" demonstrates Bruno’s ability to exercise the inventive. The elongated figural images depict fantasy type sonnets left to one’s imagination. Here the artist renders in a primitive mode. Animals, humans and perhaps a mixture of both are set against chaotic or energetic backgrounds of color and painterly actions.
Bruno is a graduate of York Academy of Art, York, PA and attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn NY. Having been an artist all his life, Bruno started his professional career in Commercial Advertising Art. Since 1980 he’s worked for a local newspaper, a television studio and as Art Director in an out of home media company for 19 years, all while sharpening his fine art skills through exhibiting, lecturing Art Marketing Seminars and teaching art classes.
"His art evokes a sense of escape from the ordinary, for himself as well as his audience."
- Damien Roman, Knickerbocker Gallery, NYC
