EVOKE Contemporary in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is proud to play host for “The Half-Life of Dreams” — a tantalizing solo exhibition that will leave you guessing “Photograph or not?”
Using a special handmade tool and a masterful eye for detail, painter Francis di Fronzo has built a reputation for his incredible landscape paintings. The artist’s technique revolves around his “comb brush” — a tool of his own design made up 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,” the gallery reports. “After many layers, the result is an infinite expanse of individual blades of grass, rich in tone, detail and hue.”
![](https://fineartconnoisseur.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/imgsrv.fineartconnoisseur.comimagefacnUserFilesImageFAtSunset-part3-fadf4cbc37acb0526fa8a059f13378bfb746ba88.jpg)
Francis di Fronzo, “At Sunset, Part 3,” oil over watercolor and gouache on panel, 34 x 50 in. (c) EVOKE Contemporary 2016
“The Half-Life of Dreams” — which opened on June 24 — presents a new type of landscape from di Fronzo. Rather than beautiful vistas of unpopulated nature, the artist appears to focus more on ruins of small-town America. Whether they depict rusted train cars, abandoned lifeguard towers, or a lonely street lamp, the paintings evoke a nostalgia for the past — a bygone era in America that once was.
“The Half-Life of Dreams” will be on view through July 23. To learn more, visit EVOKE Contemporary.
This article was featured in Fine Art Today, a weekly e-newsletter from Fine Art Connoisseur magazine. To start receiving Fine Art Today for free, click here.