We meet the glamorous hyper-realism artist in Venice.
Photography by Sebastian Felix.
Carina Francioso is an internationally recognised, award winning Canadian Italian fine artist with works held in private and corporate collections around the globe. Her meticulous attention to detail is clearly demonstrated through her contemporary realist oil paintings.
Francioso’s work draws inspiration from the calm or tumultuous, incessantly changing waters of the world. Her paintings express the beauty, power and fragility of our precious world waters. Francioso’s adolescent years were spent boating with family on Georgian Bay in Canada, and since the age of 16 she has enjoyed spending her summers living seaside in Salento, Italy. These experiences provide powerful inspiration for her work. Her connection to water and her own femininity provoked the introduction of the female nude in water (self-portraits). These paintings express the link between water and woman: the strength, fragility, power, healing, and life-giving qualities that both woman and water possess.
Francioso has a deep fascination with beauty and its embodiment through many different art forms. She has also been modelling professionally since the age of 6. She believes that beauty is not necessarily a luxury, but that it is something that our souls need. She says that “beauty is a vessel that can be filled with substance and vision, housing an intention that can transform and heal… beauty is a way of bringing light and possibility to every moment.” She immortalises her paintings with deep grace and delicacy, reflecting her passion for life and her constant inquiry into natural, physical, and spiritual beauty.
Francioso has participated several times as a Juror on the Boynes Emerging Artist Award panel. She is the recipient of the 2019 Arcadia Contemporary Gallery Award, the Bernice Adams Memorial Visual Arts Award and Bursary, among several others. Her work was internationally broadcast on RAI Television and has been featured in various magazines and publications such as American Art Collector, Art Renewal Center’s International Realism Salon Catalog, Hyperrealism Magazine, Panoram Italia, and The Artists of Georgian Bay. Some of Francioso’s celebrity collectors include the Princess of Dubai, John Legend, Tony Robbins, Wim Hof and Jim Kwik. As well, several paintings reside in homes designed by celebrity interior designer Barclay Butera.
Our editor had the pleasure of spending time with Carina recently, and invited her to Venice, ’the city of water’ for the Maria Callas gala and awards featured in our events pages, and to shoot our cover image for this issue. He was fascinated to find out more, especially being a keen artist himself…
What draws you to water as a subject in your hyper-realistic paintings? Is there a personal or cultural significance behind this choice?
Having grown up around water I quickly learned to appreciate its beauty and power. As a young girl I spent my summers boating with family on Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, and then in my teens I started living in my family’s summer home on the coast of Salento, Italy. I didn’t fully realize the effect water had on me until it found its way into my work. Only then could I connect the dots and understand the importance of these life experiences, living on and near the water, and how they provided ripe inspiration for my artwork.
What drew you to hyper-realism?
I have a deep appreciation for the old masters and realism renaissance painting. Some of my favourite artists are Michelangelo, Botticelli, Artemisia Gentileschi, Leonardo Da Vinci and Caravaggio. I admire precision and detail and this explains the realistic execution of my oil paintings. There is something that truly intrigues me about meticulousness, as I feel it adds veracity, value and integrity to the work. I believe that every square inch is as important as the whole, and that quality is more important than quantity. This belief is reflected in my work. I enjoy watching a painting come to life and I appreciate the fact that hyper-realism requires patience. While I am working on my paintings I am reminded that beautiful things take time to create, whether that be a painting, a career, a relationship, etc.
What are the main challenges you face as an artist every day and how do you motivate yourself?
Being an artist comes with many rewards but also many sacrifices. I personally have sacrificed a steady pay check from a 9-5 job. I am my own boss and since I do not have someone to manage and motivate me, I must be disciplined enough to create and work on my own. This responsibility and self discipline helps me to meet deadlines, and to establish and promote my own brand. From the minute I sit down in front of my easel and start working I immediately come alive, and I forget about the challenges that come along with an artistic path. The motivation finds me as soon as I start painting and I enter into a meditative flow state, where hours pass by but seem like only minutes.
As an Canadian Italian artist, how do your cultural roots influence your artistic vision and style, especially in the context of painting water?
Both my Canadian and Italian roots have certainly influenced my artistic vision and style. It was in Canada where my family instilled in me an appreciation for the arts from a young age. I come from a long line of artists; my mother sculpted for many years, my grandfather was a furniture designer, my great grandparents were sculptors and my great aunt was a painter. I also come from a very musical background, which inspired my brother and I to start Royal Conservatory music lessons at a very early age. I don’t play the piano as often now, but it is still a great way to pass time and relax.
When I first went to Italy to visit my nonna and extended relatives I discovered the deeper facets of my Italian roots. Italy sparked my passion for Fine Art and Realism Renaissance painting and my University studies then took on more depth and meaning. Not only could I appreciate the art of the masters, I also felt an artistic calling running through my own veins. The first of my water paintings were inspired by some photographs I took one summer of the Ionian Sea in Gallipoli, Italy near our family’s beach house. The sun was glistening over the water’s surface and I knew then that the theme of ‘water’ would be an integral part of my future work. Since I have always been surrounded by art and water, I realize how fitting the theme of water is in my paintings. There is no denying the fact that both my Canadian and Italian roots have shaped my life and work.
Hyper-realism requires an eye for detail. How do you balance the technical precision with the emotional expression in your work? And how do you deal with the chaos of water in your painting process?
This is such an important question! I believe any great artist balances technical precision with emotional expression by mastering their medium and allowing their feelings to guide their creativity. The synergy between these two important facets enables me to convey depth and authenticity in my work. I believe this authenticity is what resonates with the viewers both intellectually and emotionally, and can create a profound connection through art.
As technical as my work is, painting water has taught me to embrace spontaneity and use the fluidity of water to my advantage. Techniques like layering and blending allow for unexpected outcomes, transforming chaos into compositions that evoke emotion and energy. This process enriches the overall artistic expression. I enjoy painting water because it is the perfect mirror to life. One minute life can be turbulent and uncertain, the next moment there can be a calm and consistency, similar to the different states of water. My painting process allows me to reflect on and share emotions and stories, reminding me that life’s currents can lead to unexpected yet powerful outcomes.
Water can symbolize many things, from calm and tranquillity to movement and chaos as mentioned previously. What messages or emotions do you aim to convey through your depictions of water?
I love the saying “where your focus goes, energy flows”, so I make it my intention to focus on the positive, rather than focus on negative aspects, such as pollution or depletion. My paintings emphasize a positive viewpoint, the natural ever changing beauty of water and its mystery and profound life. Everyone has a unique experience or memory when it comes to being near the water. I believe my work can spark in the viewer a memory of a vacation, a time spent with a loved one, or time spent alone near or on the water in deep contemplation.
As a contemporary painter I strive to highlight the world’s gift of water and to acknowledge that it must be cherished and preserved. In addition to my smaller works I have also completed large-scale paintings, such as the artwork titled “Il soffio della vita” (The Breath of Life) sized 68” x 102”, which took one year to complete. I want my large-scale paintings to evoke oceanic feelings; an immense field of the unknown that draws the viewer into its vastness of stimuli. My objective is always to evoke from the viewer the same sense of beautiful awe that I personally experience.
What are some of the biggest challenges you face when creating hyper-realistic paintings of water, and how do you overcome them?
Creating hyper-realistic paintings of water presents many challenges like achieving accurate reflections, capturing light dynamics, blending of hues, and being able to convey a moment in time that also inspires the movement of imagination. Overcoming these challenges involves studying real water, using layering techniques, and experimenting with different brushes to replicate water’s fluidity and transparency, ultimately translating its complexity into art. But above all of this, creating hyper-realistic paintings comes along with the challenge of developing great patience for one’s craft. I am able to visualize the final outcome and I think this helps me to stay focused on one stroke at a time, because I want to give it my all. This work is truly born from great patience and love of the journey, which can be the most challenging but also the most rewarding aspect of realism painting.
How does the Canadian landscape, with its diverse water bodies, influence your artistic inspiration compared to any inspiration you might draw from Italian waterscapes?
Both the Canadian landscapes and Italian waterscapes offer unique elements that have shaped my artistic vision and inspiration. My paintings have in fact depicted many bodies of water from my travels across the globe, such as the Pacific Ocean, the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas, and many rivers and lakes in between.
Each waterscape has its own unique characteristics that I endeavour to document through paint. The Adriatic Sea for example, embedded in my memory a feeling of deep, dark blue depths and profound mystery, whereas the waters of the Pacific Ocean glistened with bright blue hues. The translation of these waterscapes into paint is also effected by the time of day and my own mood which is then embodied in the work. No matter what waterscape I paint, I am reminded that water connects us all and brings each one of us into this world.
What advice would you give to aspiring artists who are interested in pursuing hyper-realism, particularly in capturing challenging subjects like water?
Any aspiring artist who wants to learn how to paint hyper-realistically must first understand that much patience and precision is required. It is a slow process, not a fast one, and they will have to be comfortable with the pace of developing this style of painting. I would advise any aspiring artist who is interested in pursuing hyper-realism painting to experiment and practice daily in order to refine their skills and develop their own unique style. If they have no training whatsoever, I suggest seeking out a mentor or a course that helps them concentrate on what they want to achieve. For example, I have created an online art course at www.oilpaintingpros.com which focusses on teaching beginner and intermediate artists how to paint realistically (mainly water focussed) using the insights and techniques that I have gained from a consistent artistic practice over the past 15+ years. Completing a course like this will save an artist a lot of time trying to figure it out on their own, and it will create a solid foundation from which to experiment and find their own artistic vision and voice.
During my 4 year honours studio specialization program in University I was fortunate to experience weekly critiques and mentorship. Constructive feedback will enhance your artistic journey and will help an artist grow. When a student is ready to take this craft more seriously, I think it is important to use high-quality materials for better results and it is beneficial to regularly analyze works of established artists to refine your skills and develop your unique approach to painting.
It is fascinating to understand the connection between your mind, your brush and the paint on the canvas. Are your thoughts and you as a woman and what appears on the canvas a flowing extension of you?
Absolutely, my work is a direct reflection of myself – my mind, heart, body and soul. I have experienced first-hand the calming and therapeutic effects of water when dealing with anxiety, therefore my work is an authentic expression and extension of my innermost feelings. I believe it is true when they say that the further we move away from nature, the closer we come to dis-ease, therefore I want my paintings to communicate the healing effects of this natural resource.
Waters upon a shore are ever changing, pulsing in and out, which mirrors our breath, beating heart and human emotions… we are living water. My curiosity into this connection led me to paint the feminine figure in water (self portraits). This body of work depicting the nude figure in water represents the similitude between the feminine and water: the strength, fragility, power, healing, and life-giving qualities that both woman and water possess. This body of work is not only an extension of me as a female artist who has such a close relationship with water, but it also serves as a vehicle to express something much bigger — the vital connection that all of life has to water.
