Throughout a student’s four years at Fairfield, he or she may sit through many lectures at the Quick Center. Although the topics may vary, it’s always the same: The student will sit next to someone they know, listen to a speaker lecture for about forty-five minutes and then proceed to sit through a Q + A session.
This time things would be different.
The Director’s Choice lecture last Thursday was unlike any other forum on campus. Instead of sitting, students were urged to stand and follow Donald Vaccino, the featured artist, on a walkthrough tour of the Walsh Art Gallery.
“I’m not use to doing this,” said Vaccino as he began the tour. “I’m use to being in my studio.”
During his collegiate years, Vaccino left the Rhode Island School of Design after only year because he wanted “to learn something more concrete, the art of painting,” according to a Connecticut Post article .
He then attended the Santa Reparata Graphic Workshop is Florence, Italy.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in fine arts at Boston University in 1981 and has since been featured in solo exhibitions in Manhattan, Sweden and Japan, according to the Connecticut Post.
One of his pieces, “Ancient Harvest,” was the first he made when getting into painting on large canvases.
According to Vaccino, it was meant to be Japanese women harvesting rice and was inspired by late van Gogh and Rembrandt. When Vaccino referring to the painting’s size, he told the audience that a friend had told him to “paint big.”
“There’s something about trying to make that image and color make something bigger,” said Vaccino about the walls that were dominated by the paintings.
Another piece Vaccino spoke of, this one titled “Giant Steps,” also had a story behind it.
During a day when Vaccino had jury duty, he drew the reflection of the room in the monitor. The yellow blocks in the painting came from the Post-it notes Vaccino placed on top of the original picture.
“I always put pictures in pictures,” he said.
There are also ordinary, often overlooked objects in his work that are portrayed in an eccentric, new way. In the work of “Giant Steps,” it was a hammer.
It is clear that Vaccino doesn’t take himself to seriously when he joked, “I don’t know what the hammer is.”
Describing his work Vaccino stated, “It’s an illusionistic space that moves in and moves out.”
He credits music and specifically John Coltrane as one of his inspirations.
In comparing music to art Vaccino said, ‘Music unfolds and turns back on itself.’ He considers his paintings to be similar to music in that regard.
Fairfield Art History Professor Phillip Eliasoph interjected that Vaccino and he had known each other since they were 13.
They had not seen each other for many years until one day Eliasoph was walking in Florence. Suddenly, Eliasoph unexpectedly spotted Vaccino laying on a bench drawing. Eliasoph approached Vaccino and asked him what he was doing. Vaccino responded, “I’m trying to learn to draw.”
Now, years later, the two stood surrounded by Vaccino’s work.
“This is a true celebration of art,” said Eliasoph.
“The Emperor’s New Clothes” exhibit will run until March 9.
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