Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Maniscalco
Hi Robert, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Robert Maniscalco has been a professional creative his entire adult life. Born in 1959 in Detroit, he has lived in New York, New Orleans and currently in Charleston. His commission portraits and fine art are part of over a thousand collections throughout North America. In Detroit he hosted Artbeat on PBS and founded the Maniscalco Gallery. As a fine artist, he likes to work in multiple series. Perhaps his most enduring series is that of a commission portrait artist, immortalizing Supreme Court Justices as well as children and families. In 2014 Robert took on a vision-quest, called The Quench Project, in which he traveled to Haiti, producing numerous paintings, a documentary short (Out of Darkness), along with a companion book (Quench), juxtaposing the Haitian struggle with obtaining fresh water against our society’s obscene wealth inequality. Robert blogs on a wide range of subjects and written three other books, The Fishly and Point of Art. His fourth book, an Amazon #1 bestseller, is a full color drawing/painting method, called The Power of Positive Painting. He is an actor/director, writer/playwright, musician/composer and teacher, a former Adjunct Professor of fine art and theatre at Charleston Southern University and drawing illustration at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. Robert has expanded his creative milieu to include courtroom sketching, covering the Dylann Roof and Michael Slager trials in Charleston. His multi-disciplinary play, Vincent John Doe, received its world premiere, to rave reviews, during the 2018 and 2019 Piccolo Spoleto Festivals. He is now a regular exhibitor in the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I am a survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse, which deeply impacted my sensibility and sense of self. One positive thing it did was make me more sensitive to the suffering of others and made me more acutely appreciative of our ability as humans to transcend the paradigms and stories that tend to limit what is possible. As a portriat painter my work is not superficial. The viewer comes away with a sense of the subject. This is the result of a certain humility built into my process; I don’t let my ego get in the way of a person’s truest, best self from emerging as I work. I think of my job is to basically get out of the way and let my subject shine. There were other obstacles along the way. For instance, the day my father told me Detroit wasn’t big enough for the both of us. But this push prompted me to seek my fortunes in New York City and beyond. In a way, my success was forged out of my failures. One can only fail when one stops trying. And there came a point in my music career that I realized I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with a clarinet stuck in my mouth. As much as I loved music, I failed, meaning I realized on a deep level it wasn’t for me. Similarly with acting, I realized putting my soul on the line for strangers was not what I enjoyed. I still love music and acting but now they inspire my art.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My goal as a visual artist, a painter, is to explore the full range of my medium, which is light. I have developed several bodies of work exploring a variety of structures and subjects, but the poetry of light on form keeps finding its way into my work. Light is the force which reveals the subtleties of nature, particularly the human condition, uncovering what it means to be human in our journey toward the light. This often-dramatic journey toward the light is a theme which runs through all my work, both literally and figuratively. We are all on a journey of survival and wonder. Together, we find ways to make the best of what we are given. Often there is struggle, heartbreak, loss. But there is always a new dawn that awaits us if we can hold on till then.
With this in mind, I plow the fields of portraiture, landscape and still life, surrealism, whatever moves me. What I keep coming back to is the many creative ways we find to overcome and grow from our shared journey through adversity into the light. For instance, I am continuing a series of paintings called The Quench Project begun during my vision trip to Haiti in November 2014, focused on desire and the ways we quench it. Also, I am continuing my Faces of the Lowcountry series of paintings, which is an exploration of the joy and tenacity of the Gullah people as they continue to define and celebrate their identity, a cultural symbol of survival and abundant hope for all people. I also have been into an Iconic Charleston Series, which is all about what makes my home of Charleston so magical for me. Another body of work, consisting of highly chromatic figurative renderings, called Chromo Sapient, is intended to push the envelope of color, while maintaining the chiaroscuro – the illusion of light on form. Expressive realism may be my dharma but I have also recently begun to explore the possibilities of narrative and poetry using color and light to transport the viewer of my work into other dimensions of reality.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
I am an active participant in the Charleston and Summerville artist community, but I do coaching and workshops all over the country. I am developing an online coaching program whcih will soon be available for individuals and small groups on Zoom. I create portraits throughout North America. I consider the portrait process an intimate collaboration between myself and my sitter. I also create other paintings from people’s travel photos or capture events with live event paintings. I am available as a quick sketch artist at special events like weddings and corporate gatherings. I do public speaking and demonstrations about my career and the creative process, focused on our selves as the ultimate work of art we are put on Earth to create. And finally, I am always looking for multimedia collaborations with film makers, directors, other performance art creatives and like minded artists.
Pricing:
- You can buy one of my five books for $15 -$35
- You can commission a family portrait for $50,000
- My fine art goes for between $450 and $5,000
- I can give you four private lessons for $350
- I can speak or demo at your event for between $250 to $800
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maniscalcogallery.com
- Instagram: ManiscalcoGallery
- Facebook: PortraitArtistRobertManiscalco
- LinkedIn: Portraits of Robert Maniscalco
- Youtube: pointofart Maniscalco
- Yelp: Maniscalco Gallery
