Luciani, Tony
The painting Wonder Woman began as an intense emotional response to my partner’s breast cancer diagnosis and her courageous voyage to find healing. I witnessed first-hand the many setbacks of the psychological and physical challenges that people in her position were being subjected to. Through all of it, however, my life deepened in profundity. In the portrait, I tried to capture the meaningful spirit of quiet strength, yet acknowledging the helplessness cancer brings. Wonder Woman is about humanity’s fragility and vulnerability, about life and the power to endure and overcome. It is about our questions of who we are, where we are going and how to uncover a way to achieve our dreams, no matter what obstacles fall onto our paths. Wonder Woman is my ultimate hero.
BORN: Toronto, 1956
EDUCATION:
1970-1974
Central Technical School, Toronto, art program
1974-1975
Sheridan Community College, Oakville, Ontario
1975-1977
Ontario College of Art, Toronto; fine art program
1977-1978
Ontario College of Art, ‘Florence Off-Campus Program’, post-graduate; Florence, Italy
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2007
Galerie Crescent Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec; ‘From Da Vinci to Freud’
2005
Loch Gallery, Toronto, Ontario; ‘Layered Reality’
1997
Nancy Poole’s Studio, Toronto (also 1989 1984 1980)
1995
Joseph D. Carrier Public Gallery, Toronto
1993
Homer Watson House and Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario
1993
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
1990-91
Kitchener/Waterloo Public Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario; catalogue
1992, 1984
Rodman Hall Arts Centre, National Exhibition Centre, St. Catharines, Ontario; catalogues
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2002-03
“Identita: An Exhibition by Italian Canadian Artists; A Traveling Exhibition”, Glenhyrst Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, Ontario, and Joseph D. Carrier Gallery, Toronto; catalogue
2002, 2001
Etobicoke Public Art Gallery, juried exhibition, Etobicoke, Ontario (2 best in show prize awards)
1999
Wellington County Museum, Fergus, Ontario; ‘Fathers and Sons’, invitational
1998
Wellington County Museum, Fergus, Ontario; Self Portrait Exhibition
1995
MacDonald Stewart Art Gallery, Guelph, Ontario: juried
1993
Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario; juried
1991, 1990
The Cooley Gallery, Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA
1989
“Artitudes”, 7th International Art Competition, Art 54, New York, NY; prize award
1987
“Aspects of Contemporary Realism”, The MacIntosh Art Gallery, London, Ontario
1984
Hall du Centenaire, National Museum of Monaco, XVIII International Exhibition of Contemporary Art of Monte Carlo; juried
1981
City of Toronto Archives, Market Gallery; “Toronto…New Perspectives-Old Reflections”
1980
London Regional Public Art Gallery; International Print and Drawing Exhibition; catalogue
1979
“Water Colour Painting in Canada”, University of Waterloo, Kitchener; catalogue
1979
“A Canadian Start in Art”, Canada House, London, England; Invitational; catalogue
1978
“Selected Drawings: The Figure”; McLaughlin Library, University of Guelph; catalogue
AWARDS:
1989, 1979, 1977
Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant
1980-81
Canada Council “B” Grant
1976-77
George A. Reid Scholarship (Ontario College of Art)
COLLECTIONS:
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, Ontario
Corporation of the City of Toronto
Canada House, London, England
