KATHERINE MCMAHON
Habitat is a new weekly series that visits with artists in their workspaces.
This week’s studio: Federico Castelluccio, Morris County, NJ.
“As a child growing up I built car models. There was a brief moment where the Italian macho thing came out in me and I wanted to be a car mechanic,” said Federico Castelluccio, explaining when he knew he wanted to pursue painting, “but I quickly realized that I was painting them better then I was building them.” Since those days, Castelluccio has directed movies, worked as an actor (including his memorable role on The Sopranos as the Italian enforcer Furio Giunta) and continued to amass an impressive art collection, including works by Guercino, Giovanni Andrea Sirani, Ercole Gennari, Luca Giordano, Palma Il Giovane, and Francesco de Mura, among others. Castelluccio was born in Naples, but grew up in New Jersey, where he now lives and works. At 17, he worked at Paterson News after school, doing drawings and illustrations for the newspaper. One day, a reporter came in and said she was going to be interviewing George Burns. He enthusiastically offered to paint a portrait to present to Burns. “I stayed up all night reading a book about his life, went to Jerry Ohlinger’s Movie Material store in NYC for some reference photos, and did it in a week,” Castelluccio told me. “He loved the portrait and then helped me get into illustration, which led to my doing illustrations for PBS, NBC, and CBS after I graduated high school and was studying painting at SVA.”
It wasn’t until his last year in the painting program at SVA that he got into acting, after attending a friend’s monologue. “I ended up doing some extra work and one of my first experiences was in Crocodile Dundee II,” he said. “I met Paul Hogan and ended up doing a portrait of him.” Recently, Castelluccio finished directing a film, and will be curating an exhibition on the broad theme of vanitas in New York later in 2015. “The vanities of life, brevity of man—It’s a subject that I’ve always been interested in and attracted to. It always reminds me how much I want to do,” he said. Throughout his many professional endeavors, painting has been a constant. Some of Castelluccio’s work is currently being exhibited at Chetkin Gallery in Red Bank, New Jersey. In the slide show below he shows us around his studio and gives some insight into his process.
ALL PHOTOS: KATHERINE MCMAHON
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Federico Castelluccio’s studio in New Jersey.
"Normally I work on canvas or wood panel. I’ll gesso it 8 to 10 times and sand it so it’s smooth. I’ll tint a warm or cool tone before my underpainting or after my drawing, to give substance to the forms and to create an illuminating effect in the lights and darks. This is an Old Master technique.”
"I work largely from life, so I’ll find objects that inspire me and that I’ll want to paint and arrange them accordingly. The parakeet’s head was originally pointed straight, so I twisted it slightly. Once I’m happy with the composition and light, then I’ll begin drawing and painting.”
“Here are a few things I’ve used for still life paintings. The figurine in the front is called 'Gobetto'—it's a lucky charm from Italy. In season 4 of The Sopranos my character Furio brought this Neapolitan charm back from Italy as a souvenir for AJ.”
"This is an oil painting called Pointer, which I completed last year."
“I work mainly on 19th-century antique easels, I recently bought a 19th-century Friedrichs double-sided easel, which I’m presently working on and, of course, old faithful, the Hughes Easel, it’s really well engineered with a counterweight system."
"This is a landscape of the Loire Valley, oil on canvas."
"In addition to 17th-century European masters, I also collect early period carved and gilt frames. They are works of art in their own right. My dear friend, the late great Geoffrey Holder, always said, 'The painting is the performance and the frame is like the stage, it enhances the performance.' I wouldn’t frame one of my own paintings in an antique frame out of principle, but from time to time I’ll find a period frame that will match one of my Old Masters.”
"I started collecting different things from a very young age. Around twenty years ago I focused my collection on 17th-century European masters and have since added paintings by Guercino, Ercole Gennari, Giovanni Andrea Sirani, Palma il Giovane, Luca Giordano, Francesco DeMura, among others.”
“I work primarily in oil. A painting can take me anywhere from a few days to a few months depending on scale and complexity. When painting landscapes, I’ll sometimes add different elements that are not in the original landscape to create a Capriccio-style painting."
“I work on multiple pieces at once, especially if I’m preparing for an exhibit. I’ll work with drying times and balance a few at a time.”
"Out of the Red, Into the Black: this one is oil on panel."
“Nature inspires me. I’ll see things in nature and think about how I would want to frame the composition as a painting.”