{"id":26334,"date":"2014-12-06T13:26:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-06T18:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/?p=26334"},"modified":"2015-01-21T19:34:41","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T00:34:41","slug":"tony-calzetta-love-ditties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/?p=26334","title":{"rendered":"Tony Calzetta: Love Ditties"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Installation view of Tony Calzetta, Love Ditties.<\/em> Photo: Walter Willems. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n

When first approaching Tony Calzetta\u2019s Love Ditties<\/em> drawings, I was unsure of what to make of the colorful and fantastical pieces before me. Representations of industrial vehicles, cloudy skies, and other-worldly landscapes are paired with titles reminiscent of 1980s pop lyrics.<\/p>\n

“If Your Heart Aches\u2026” features a yellow muffler-shaped object; animalized with legs, one wearing a brown boot, the object expels orange gaseous clouds. It is uncertain what this structure is suppose to represent, what it is suppose to be doing. This ambiguity\u00a0characterizes\u00a0the majority of Calzetta\u2019s pastel creations. In the gallery the drawings hang uncovered, as such, their material impressions become visible to the naked eye. The paper warps under the weight of the pastels, the heavy graphite carves into the background, and the pastels have layered, all creating a deep awareness of tactility. Calzetta\u2019s images beg to be explored; they create an environment that appeal to the senses. I wanted to (perhaps after donning a hazmat suit) walk over the pink ground in “Nemmeno una Lacrima (Not Even a Tear)”, fly the plane through the blue green sky of “So I Don\u2019t Have to Dream Alone”, and traverse the stormy waves of “You Can\u2019t Take That Away From Me”.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tony Calzetta, “If Your Heart Aches…”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 35 x 39 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tony Calzetta, “Nemmeno una Lacrima (Not Even a Tear)”,\u00a02014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 30 x 38 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n

Yet, I found that I most wanted to be on the yellow submarine in “I Found My World in You!”. \u201cSo we sailed up to the sun \u2019til we found the sea of green, and we lived beneath the waves in our yellow submarine,\u201d it is with these Beatles lyrics echoing in my head that I found myself transposed. It is the whimsical nature of “Yellow Submarine” that reflects the playful nature of Calzetta\u2019s images. The bright bold colors and fun shapes invite the viewer to approach these machines, rather than fear their unknown mechanics.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tony Calzetta, “I Found My World in You!”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 29 x 40 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n

What I believe to be the most interesting of Calzetta\u2019s show is “You Make My Heart Sing” (2003). The largest of the pieces, this stunning scene was done completely in grayscale. Like separating pastel from one of its most characteristic features, color; the scene completely isolates the viewer from the harlequin world otherwise depicted. Did this work, with similar fictional machinery, swirling clouds, and dirty sky, set an evolutionary president for today\u2019s pieces? It seems so.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Tony Calzetta, “You Make My Heart Sing”, 2003, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 53 x 74 inches. Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n

The works, almost diorama like in nature, present the viewer with a brilliant fictional world (or worlds) for one to explore. Corrado De Luca, of De Luca Fine Art, spoke to me about the artist\u2019s hesitation revolving the project, but confirmed that the show had been a success, a fact I found unsurprising.<\/p>\n

Brinae Bain<\/p>\n

* Exhibition information:\u00a0 November 15 \u2013 December 6, 2014, \u00a0De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery, 217 Avenue Road, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed \u2013 Sat: 11 \u2013 6 p.m.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Tony Calzetta , “You Are So Beautiful”, 2014, oil pastel, graphite and gouache on paper, 30.0 x 42.0 inches.\u00a0\u00a0Courtesy of De Luca Fine Art \/\u00a0Gallery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Brinae Bain<\/strong><\/p>\n

Representations of industrial vehicles, cloudy skies, and other-worldly landscapes are paired with titles reminiscent of 1980s pop lyrics.<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[152,4,1,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brinae-bain","category-features","category-uncategorized","category-walter-willems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26334"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26720,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions\/26720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/v2.artoronto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}