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Gaetano Tranchino

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Gaetano Tranchino
Born1938
Syracuse (Siracusa), Sicily
OccupationSicilian painter

Gaetano Tranchino (born 1938) is a Sicilian painter known for his depictions of Sicily. Tranchino has been active in the art world since 1964, exhibiting his work extensively in Italy and internationally.[1]

A self-confessed poor student, Tranchino was fascinated by promotional film posters and the still moments they depicted that were taken from a larger story.[2]

Biography

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Gaetano Tranchino was born in Syracuse, Sicily in 1938. A close friend of the writer Leonardo Sciascia and the photographer Ferdinando Scianna, Tranchino has, since 1964, exhibited throughout Italy and beyond.

"Casa azzurra con giardino / Blue house with a Garden" by Gaetano Tranchino

Critical responses

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Tranchino uses bold and saturated hues when painting, often referencing Sicily, especially the post-war period of his childhood and youth. Motifs of departing ships (often under a full plume of steam), solitary readers and walkers, and landscapes of rural or small-city life, are repeated images in his body of work.

According to Sciascia, "Tranchino, à la Stendhal, à la Savinio, does not work… he enjoys himself, that is to say, he paints with delight, with pleasure, as on a prolonged vacation – so very prolonged –, continuous and intense enough to absorb his whole life."[3]

Writing in The Irish Times (5 May 2010) of Tranchino’s 2010 solo exhibition at the Rua/Red Gallery in Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland, art critic Aidan Dunne opined: "He uses intense yellows, pinks, reds, greens and blues in richly textured, jewel-like masses, often accentuated by strong tonal contrasts. If he wasn’t such a good painter it could all go horribly wrong, but he is actually a fine, sensitive painter, and the paintings are not only attractive but capable of withstanding sustained attention: they’d be good to live with, in other words. Tranchino’s place of memory is tinged with the sadness of loss, but as formulated, it’s an almost pleasurable sadness."[4]

Illustrative Work

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Irish poet Pat Boran has a number of books that feature cover images by Tranchino,[5] including his anthology The Word Ark: A Pocket Book of Animal Poems.

References

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  1. ^ www.artnet.com https://www.artnet.com/artists/gaetano-tranchino/. Retrieved 2024-08-19. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ Cosmogonia 1904 (2020-08-06). Cosmogonia – Intervista a Gaetano Tranchino. Retrieved 2024-09-26 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "English". Gaetano Tranchino. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  4. ^ "When is an exhibition not an exhibition?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
  5. ^ "The Next Life". Dedalus Press. Retrieved 2024-09-25.
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