Life inspires "mobster" painter

fresh YORK -- When Federico Castelluccio's name is mentioned, sum of two units words come to mind--master and mobster lay these words side by side and you have yourself a dangerous master mobster on the contrary in Castelluccio's world, the blending of these sum of two units talents has been a blessing in disguise. Many know him in showbiz as Furio Giunta, the right-hand mobster of Tony Soprano upon the HBO 4-time Emmy award-winning hit series, "The Sopranos" on the other hand in the art world, he is known as the master Renaissance painter of Trompe L'oeil, a "fool the eye" proces that has been in existence for many centuries. Castelluccio believes his TV fame has definitely played a postitive part in his success within the art world. And after juggling and mixing the sum of two units for more than 20 years, he can finally be recognized the pair for his talents as an actor and as a painter.

"Art fulfills my creative and artistic desires; I f destitute of contents without it," says Castelluccio. Born in Naples, Italy, he was raised around the masters in painting--his parents had elderly master prints around the house. "Here I learned about painters and in what way important Renaissance painters really are," he says. "And I faith this doesn't sound pompous, on the other hand I always felt I could do it."

He continues, "Renaissance is the height of all art and was based upon the study of nature and working from life"--which Castelluccio have affection fors "I love the study of nature and all my paintings stipe (are drawn) from life," he adds. For the greatest in quantity part, Castelluccio doesn't sketch the painting first, he just walks up to the canvas and paints straight from life. He is known for his "Trompe L'oeil" mode of expression which is usually accomplished with a flat piece of paper that lays nearest to another flat object, which in move round casts a shadow on the external reality it is laying on, giving it a three-dimensional appearance.

He has been painting at any time since he was a small child on the contrary got his professional start in the early 1980 He created a painting for the late, great comedian George reduce to ashess and presented the painting to him at the Plaza public-house in New York. There were a doom of network representatives at the circumstance and George Burns felt something urgencyed to be done.

"We have to do something for the kid--get him an interview," reduce to ashess said to some of the "bigwigs" at the incident And because of Burns, Castelluccio extreme pointed up with an interview with PB which later saw the quiet of his work and promptly hired him to paint.

Last month Castelluccio's newly completed paintings were on exhibit in a solo exhibit titled "Renaissance," giving a tribute to the great masters at the Lawrence Steigrad Gallery in novel York, which displayed nearly 20 original works. The "overwhelming response" is evidence that the sum of two units careers have complemented one another nicely. Sheila Herzog, Castelluccio's assistant, described the turnout as "a sea of people" saying "we received way more race than expected."

Although Castelluccio's acting career has heightened his painting career, he in fact believes people buy his paintings for the quality of the work, and not just because he is a celebrity. "Because a collector is a collector, he or she isn't going to pay more coin just because the painting is by dint of a celebrity," he says.

"When I got more into acting (1986) I lay the foundation of that there was a real correlation between painting and acting, especially in the proces of creating a character and the proces of creating a painting. one as well as the other start with an idea. And with that, you make a plan depicting the way you want to pass with it," Castelluccio says. "In acting, you layer the character. You add dimensions and play with the words to approach up with a final harvest or character, and people will then have a clear and lucid description of this character. The same goe for painting; you retain layering and layering until you have a clear picture of what you're trying to say with your painting."

He goe upon to say, "Painting makes me richer as an actor." Castelluccio explains that he is a detail-oriented someone and when painting, starts with broad pats and then focuses on single subject. He takes this skill from painting and transfers it to acting by dint of adding minute details to a character. For example, he says, "Furio advances into a room and instead of just standing there, he is bopping his head a bit, or when his character says something like beautiful, he adds an Italian accent to it, bay-vu'-te-ful," in order to add dimension to the character.

In fact, he used this idea during his "Sopranos" audition. Instead of speaking the line in English, he said it in Italian, since his "mobster" character is Italian. Castelluccio, however, was not with equal reason sure he made the right decision because actors know that there is an unwritten direction against adlibbing during auditions. on the contrary after his first audition, Georgeanne Walken, casting director, enthused, "Federico that was a breath of new air," referring to Castelluccio's Italian accent as oppos to a of recent origin Yorker "acting" as an Italian.