Fred Calleri was born in Maryland, and has slowly moved westward towards his current home near the beaches of California. On his way, he earned an Illustration and Graphic Design degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1993, and settled for some time in the mountains of Arizona. Calleri has been interested in art throughout his life and since childhood has been a gifted draftsman which has transferred into his talent as an oil painter.
Calleri’s early influences were Renaissance painters and the Masters of the early 20th century. He looks to those Masters: Vermeer, Sorolla, Zorn, and aims in his paintings for an emotional reaction from the viewer. Calleri uses the Master’s palette (and mood) to recreate classic, nostalgic, and romantic images in a wide variety of subject matter. Using vintage reference photos, live models, and imagination, there is no limit to Calleri’s creativity.
While exploring the figure and representational painting in general, Calleri found that by adding a slight distortion he was free to let the image take him where it wanted to go. It is through this distortion that Calleri injects his images with a mysteri
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