Toronto artist Gerard Gauci is widely known in Canada as a painter and set designer.  After graduating from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1982 he began his career creating illustrations for Canadian magazines, publishers and design firms.  He became a full-time painter in 1998, and has worked as resident set designer for Opera Atelier in Toronto since 1986.

Gauci is known for his dramatic still life paintings that take a decidedly contemporary approach to a traditional subject.  In his paintings, the objects themselves are less important than the abstract rhythms set up in the composition.  Repeated lines, dissonant colour combinations and a fluid handling of paint contribute to a reading that goes beyond suggested symbolism.  Recalling the extravagance of 17th and 18th Century European masters, Gauci presents canvasses that overflow with flowers, ripening fruit and a mysterious array of found objects.  Most recently he has been working on a series of small-scale paintings depicting rooms in the great palaces and villas of Italy, France and England. His paintings hang in private, public and corporate collections.  

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