About the Artist

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Since 1980, Robert Maniscalco’s exquisite commissioned portraits and fine art have become part of over 850 distinguished private and public collections throughout North America. To know about the artist, you must understand Robert’s painting method is built on the classical painting traditions of Rembrandt, Velazquez, Hals and Sargent. Like these artists, Robert explores the use of light and shadow as a means of creating mood and achieving character expressively in his subjects. Born in Detroit in 1959, he is the son of internationally renowned portrait artist Joseph Maniscalco, with whom he apprenticed during the early 1980’s.

He moved to New York City in 1986 where, in addition to his fine art, he also worked as an actor and director on numerous stage, film and TV projects. He returned to Detroit in 1997, after a three year portrait residency in New Orleans. In Detroit he founded the Maniscalco Gallery, which showcased many local and international artists. As host of Art Beat, the critically acclaimed and popular PBS series on Detroit Public Television, he explored the creative process with his celebrated guests. He has created two DVDs on painting portraits, called The Power of Positive Painting and published a novel called The Fishfly, a semi-autobiography about the artist and his struggle to resolve his dark past.

Though his creative muse has taken many forms he has discovered a common thread which connects them all together. Robert speaks to the basic need we all share to communicate aesthetically about the human condition, particularly the celebration of man’s capacity to overcome great struggle. See his artist statement. He shares his remarkable path toward personal and professional growth and creative self-expression in his book, Point of Art. In addition to his exquisite portrait art, Robert has created several bodies of work, including Faces of China, Italia, and a series of pastels on velour entitled Chromo Sapient. He continues working on a series of Faces of the Lowcountry, featuring the Gullah Giche people and the Carolina Lowcountry and a series called, Iconic Charleston.

He has been focusing on a new series called, The Quench Project, in which he is traveling to Haiti and producing paintings, a documentary short and a companion book, expressing the Haitian struggle with obtaining fresh water. TQP is in partnership with Watermission.

He is also the Doppelganger of the artist, NETI, “who is that he is not.”

Robert currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina where he continues his mission and where he is raising his two wonderful children, Danny and Mary with his amazing wife Cate – Check out Cate’s bio and their amazing love story! Also, take a look at Robert’s Christian testimony.

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