LA-Ont painter

A few posts back, I mentioned briefly Ivano Stucco, a painter who splits his time between LA and southern Ontario.  There was something about his work that caught my attention, most likely the fact that there was clear craft involved, but that in most of his pieces there was something that made the work stand apart from a purely figurative painting.  In By Sweetness Alone it was the outrageously oversized hummingbirds, but also some of the crazy highway angles in the background.

Ivano Stucco, By Sweetness Alone, 2018

As I looked through his work on-line, I realized that there were quite a few highway paintings, though not all of them were quite so plunging.

Ivano Stucco, Lo-Gas Eat, 2018

The highway in this is one is much flatter, but the sign has been transformed, somewhat akin to something James Rosenquist might have done in one of his simpler prints.

Here the highways criss-cross and the traffic seems endless.

Ivano Stucco, Highway to Heaven, 2018

The overall effect is fairly claustrophobic.  You can just barely make out the sky, which is sort of a steely blue-grey.  If you look closely, it is possible to see some places towards the top of the painting where the painting surface has been roughed up and there is a honeycomb effect.  There are some other areas where there are flashes of colour that aren't strictly speaking naturalistic.  As I said, there is a bit more going on in this painting that just a straight-forward painting of the highway.

This older work combines a few of Stucco's preoccupations: an unusual perspective, a car, a pedestrian (he has a whole series of people walking), a storefront, graffiti and stylized elements (the pedestrian's jacket and the store windows).

Ivano Stucco, Upswing, 2012-3

Of course, what kind of LA artist would ignore the city's noir side?  (Though LA noir always involves more driving than NY-based noir...)

Ivano Stucco, Nightlife, 2014

This could also be a scene from a noir film:

Ivano Stucco, Crackpots Jackpots and Flower Pots, 2018

While most of Stucco's work is based on LA's highways and neighbourhoods, he does travel and is inspired by other cities.  Together (No. 17) was inspired by the train station in Florence (which I certainly hope to see one of these days).

Ivano Stucco, Together (No. 17), 2018

Here is the obligatory New York City shot.

Ivano Stucco, On the Bowery, 2017

Most recently, Stucco was in Chicago, taking in the urban landscape, and he came up with this image of the downtown, under the L tracks.

Ivano Stucco, Chicago 'L', 2018

The L basically does look like this, a huge overhanging valley of steel, and I worked right around the corner from Washington and Wells for years.  (I never saw anyone with a tiger head, however.)  This painting is still available incidentally.  I considered purchasing it, but eventually decided it was just a bit too large for the house, given the limited wall space that is left.