It’s been said that “art is the window to man’s soul,” so if that’s the case, Charles Gianfagna’s is on display for the Capital District to see with the art exhibit “A Retrospective,” a varied collection of artwork from the past 53 years housed at Siena College until Dec. 20.
“When you die, your life passes before your eyes; this is a slow motion version of that. It’s very emotional because associated with all of the art are my experiences in executing the art,” said Gianfagna, an Albany resident.
Gianfagna has plenty of experience with openings. Until just recently, he was head of St. Peter’s Hospital Master Facilities Plan and unveiled a $259 million renovation and modernization project. Before that, he executed several other large-scale medical projects around the region and New York City.
But on Friday, Nov. 18, he was part of a new kind of reveal with the artist talk and opening reception for “A Retrospective” in Yates Gallery in the Standish Library at Siena.
“I was fascinated by how people from the show gravitated toward certain pieces,” said Gianfagna. “I was provoking the very thing that my art intended to do. I provoked people’s reactions. Everybody found something they liked, which I found was interesting.”
The exhibit is literally a journey through Gianfagna’s evolution as an artist, featuring different mediums like biographs, cut paper, casting shadows, airbrushing, angels, childhood Jesus and cathedrals.
“It’s a wonderful experience for an artist to see all his work in one big showing. … It’s not presented chronologically but you suddenly get all of the common denominators in your art,” said Gianfagna, who noticed his consistent use of primary colors and shapes. “I began to see these common threads and themes. You could see the progression of my work over time from one style of work to another.”
With such a range of techniques, it might come as a surprise that Gianfagna didn’t make his career in art. In fact, of the 53 years spanned in the show, a large chunk of that time (about 40 years) was spent working as an architect and master facilities planner and builder.
“Art supplemented, it was therapy, it was the opportunity for me to be active in things going on around me,” said Gianfagna.
The unusual volume of art and the diverse quality of the pieces produced by a “hobby” artist is what caught Curator Sergio Sericolo’s eye.
“I thought it was interesting he had this architectural background but had been doing artwork so long. I saw his work and really loved it,” said Sericolo.
Sericolo said the decision to showcase 53 years of art was obvious from an artist’s standpoint and the viewer’s.
“He has great facility with any medium he touches and I was really impressed by his work,” said Sericolo. “I wanted to keep the students in mind because the space is in the student space. Let them experience work they might not see anywhere else.”
Gianfagna’s devotion to art while juggling a busy career is something Sericolo felt students could also relate to.
“People who aren’t making a career in art but do art and it’s a part of their life … the student might feel that connection,” said Sericolo.
It’s not first in line at the art exhibit, but the cut paper technique was one of the first art forms Gianfagna experimented with while he was still in college.
“I started cutting objects in halves and quarters and displaying them in different ways. I started looking at this idea of layering like you do in a collage,” said Gianfagna.
Inlaying and creating intricate cut paper pieces led to an “obsession” with airbrushing, not typically considered art.
“[It’s] not considered a high art as a medium. It was relegated to people who were illustrators or retouched photographs,” said Gianfagna. “It’s very difficult to work with, takes a tremendous amount of patience and time but it could give you very realistic results. That’s how I could create little surprises.”
After his airbrushing phase came casting shadows, a difficult task where he discovered how to draw out the 3D characteristics of shadows.
Biographs is where he’s attracted a lot of commission, where he creates a piece intimately reflective of a specific person.
“It starts with a biograph of me as the artist and ends with a biograph of my wife, Meg, and my three children,” said Gianfagna. “The exhibit is buttressed by these two things, me as a person and my wife and family, which is the most important part of my life.”
Biographs aren’t always quick to complete and he has been working on three for about eight years.
Now, he’s in what he calls his “inspirational phase.” It’s angels, Jesus during his childhood and cathedrals and he’s grouped all three to create ArtofCharles.com, where people can view his work and purchase prints, cards, calendars or journals. The drawings are detailed and complex, done simply in ink.
“Messages from Angels have a wonderful rich belief and cultural meaning of angels in our lives. … I put the idea of messages and angels together,” said Gianfagna. “Death, other expressions of life, partnerships, divorce.”
His childhood of Jesus illustrations are unique and intriguing because that portion of his life has never been documented, said Gianfagna.
“There’s an enormous amount of art about Jesus, from birth to crucifixion, but a lot of gaps in between the storyline,” said Gianfagna. “I thought I would explore the adventures of Jesus as a child.”
His artist portfolio is expansive and deep and the question he’s always asked is how he found the time to create it all. His secret? Discipline, no television, a designated studio and a supportive family.
“I have a very organized way of doing work. I’ll work on five or six pieces of art at the same time at different stages of completion,” said Gianfagna. “I’ve had a dedicated studio since I was a child, for drawing and painting.”
Working among his art—literally—also helps.
“I hang the ideas in whatever form they are—a photograph that’s inspiring me, someone else’s painting, a sketch that I’ve done—they’re all visually surrounding me,” said Gianfagna. “When I have that one hour to work, it doesn’t take me a lot of transition time. … I can pick up where I left off a week ago and get right down to work.”
His “obsessive compulsive” art process has also been a cure for artist’s block.
“You can look at one piece over and over again and get stuck. When I’m stuck on one, I move from one to another,” said Gianfagna. “That’s the way my brain works.”
“A Retrospective” will be on display in the Standish Library until Dec. 20 during library hours. View more of his work online at artofcharles.com.
