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Reimagining: Faith, Hope and Love

25 recent paintings

Solo exhibit by Deborah Joan Lanino

​September - December 2024​

​The Blackfriars Gallery

2301 Vine Street Berkeley, CA 94708
​dspt.edu/reimagining-faith-hope-love

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​​​​​"Lanino's contemporary paintings are marked by vibrant hues

of blue, purple and yellow; they add a different dimension of light,

reminiscent of Impressionist art to her canvases" -  The Catholic Herald UK
 

The exhibition, featuring paintings created between 2020 and 2024, consists of several sections. The first honors the legacy of the Renaissance painter, Bernardino Lanino (1512-1583) and his workshop. The second is inspired by faith and scripture, and the third is a meditation on pilgrimage and renewal.

One could say that art is in Deborah's DNA, going back her ancestor, Bernardino Lanino, who created master works in the city of Vercelli and the surrounding region of Piedmont. The journey began in 1985 when Deborah, then a junior at Pratt Institute, studied abroad at SACI in Florence, Italy. While living there, she saw an exhibition in Vercelli commemorating 400 years since the death of the Renaissance painter Bernardino Lanino, revealing her ancestral connection to him and the prolific “Lanino Workshop.” Shortly afterwards, she received a very old handwritten family tree from a cousin in Turin, as well as books and commemorations. Inspired by these materials, Deborah used the occasion of this show to commission genealogists in Piedmont, Italy to verify her ancestral connection to Bernardino. Their recent work has uncovered centuries-old vital records confirming a direct lineage which is summarized in a recent article published in Family Tree Magazine.

Through her work, the artist creates conversations rooted in classical techniques such as chiaroscuro, sfumato, pentimento, glazes and impasto. The meditative nature of these works invite the viewer to see that we are all connected. Blending together past and present, the works echo themes of transcendence that diffuse grief and loss, the goal of which is to thoughtfully engage, uplift and bring positivity to the viewer.

Deborah has taught college art for over 10 years at the Art Institute and exhibited her work in numerous galleries and museums nationwide, including bG Gallery, Sturt Haaga Gallery, Range Projects Gallery, The Makery, The Beverly Hills Art Show, and The Huntington Art Museum. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Bay Times, UK House & Garden, and Wine Spectator, as well as publications such as Farrar Straus & Giroux, Random House, Barnes & Noble Classics and Simon & Schuster. Currently, Deborah resides in Los Angeles, where she maintains her art studio. 

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Read the Review of the Exhibition

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​​​Bernardino Lanino 1512- 1583

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"After training locally with a little-known artist, Bernardino Lanino was associated with Vercelli's most important painter from 1530. Three years later he had already reached the rank of master painter. His early work displays his teacher's gentle figure style and delicate effects, but Lanino added his own soft, misty brushstrokes. After his teacher left to establish himself in Milan, Lanino became the region's leading painter. Between 1540 and 1560, Lanino made several visits to Milan, creating altarpieces and frescoes. There he absorbed the strong influence of Leonardo da Vinci's chiaroscuro. During this period Lanino made many of his finest drawings, creating startling chiaroscuro effects using black chalk and white bodycolor heightening on brown prepared paper. He often used pen and wash with white highlights in his accomplished compositional studies. Throughout the 1560s and 1570s, patrons eagerly sought Lanino's paintings, and his workshop was amazingly prolific. Examples of his soft style spread throughout the eastern Piedmont and Milan, and his sons also became painters in Vercelli."  - The Getty Center

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