JOHN DI LEONARDO
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John Di Leonardo is a Canadian visual artist/poet and a graduate of McMaster University. He has published two award winning chapbooks Book of Hours (2014), and Starry Nights (2015). He is a full member of The Canadian League of Poets. His debut collection of ekphrastic poetry“Conditions of Desire” was published by Hidden Brook Press, 2018.

​John has had numerous solo and group exhibitions to his credit over the past three decades, his work can be found in  private and public collections such as the MacMaster Museum of Art. He is a past Board of Directors member for the Station Gallery in Whitby Ontario. He is represented by Art Dialogue Gallery in Toronto. He writes and paints in Brooklin, Ontario.




JOHN DI LEONARDO

CV
​

1953    Born in Italy
1964    Emigrated to Canada


EDUCATION

1969-1972   Dundas Valley School of art, Life Drawing, Dundas, ON
1973-1977   Hon, BFA, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
1978-1979   B.Ed., University of Toronto, ON
1983-1986   OCAD, Life drawing, Toronto, ON


SELECTED AWARDS

2018    Canada Council Arts Grant/Exhibition
2018.   RMG Residency/Exhibition; (June to September) Oshawa, ON

1984    MacMaster University Museum Purchase, 1980, Hamilton, ON
1978    W.A.A.C. Art Scholarship, Bursary to study art, Toronto, ON
1977    Eagle Northright, Canadian Art Competition. Bursary to study art, Hamilton, ON


STUDIO PRACTICE

“My current work explores questions of the nude image as a contentious landscape in the history of Canadian art, and how its tradition as object of desire and shame informs the trajectory of our social constructs, values and identity.”

Di Leonardo's current studio practice continues to explore questions of the nude image as a contentious landscape in the history of Canadian art. His new series "Decameron" (2020-ongoing), explores images of hope through the current Covid 19 global pandemic.

Throughout his career John Di Leonardo has examined the concept of "Time and The Transience of Life". He has devised a methodology characterized by spontaneity, intuition and improvisation through the use of colour, line, text, and the human figure.

Di Leonardo began his career in the 1980's with his series "Ground Zero." In these visceral expressionistic works on paper and
3-D box-shaped canvases he explored the nuclear power concerns at the time.

From 1989 onward Di Leonardo began investigating the healing and destructive forces of nature, with the series “Grand-Mother." The heavily textured 3-D canvases deployed techniques mixing earth, sand, pigment on cut and folded canvases.

From 2000, the "Book of Hours" series evolved, considering the nature of art, country, progress, man. The big questions are explored through the use of quotidian images, text, bold colours and mixed media techniques.

In 2010 a "Prayers" series emerged exploring the notion and relationship of power, politics and prayer. Di Leonardo deployed a white on white glazing technique with the layering of text and colour.

From 2015 he began researching the concept of time itself with the series "Seconds"Spontaneous gestural outbursts that challenge the body's performance through seconds of time.

In 2018 the series "Mirror-Mirror" was completed. This installation/body of work explored the idea of transience, beauty and the conceptualization of the nude body within Canada’s artistic identity. His figurative images oscillate between abstraction and realism. The series was exhibited at the Robert MaLaughlin Art Gallery, in Oshawa Ontario.


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS


2018   "MIRROR / MIRROR" The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Gallery A, Oshawa, ON
2012    "Book of Hours: Placebo" Whitby Public Library, Whitby, ON
2012    "Book of Hours: Placebo" Art on the Mezzanine, (VAC) Bowmanville, ON
2011     "Book of Hours: Family Is" Art on the mezzanine, (VAC) Bowmanville ON
2010     "Book of Hours: Man Is" Whitby Public Library, Whitby, ON
2009     "Book of Hours: Progress Is" Whitby Public Library, Whitby ON
2008     "Book of Hours: Canada Is" Whitby Public Library, Whitby, ON
1988     "Ground Zero II" Northrop Fry Hall,  University of Toronto, ON
1987     "Ground Zero I" Gallery 306, (80 Spadina), Toronto, ON
1983     "Innocence & Experience" St Lawrence Centre Art Gallery, Toronto, ON
1982     "Love & Stuff" Mandeville Gallery, Toronto, ON


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 

2021 Pine Ridge Arts Council, Allan Artist's, Facebook, January.

2020 Station Gallery, "Dream-logic," Juried Exhibition, Dec.2020-21.
2019 Station Gallery, "Encounters" 27th Juried Exhibition.
2019   Robert McLaughlin Gallery, O.A.A. 51st Juried Exhibition, ON
2019   Station Gallery, "Perfect Moment," 26th Juried Exhibition.

2018   VAC, 38th Annual Juried Exhibition, Clarington, ON
2018   Robert McLaughlin Gallery, O.A.A. 50th Juried Art Exhibition, ON
2018   Gallery 67, "Figure & Still Life," O.A.A., Oshawa, ON
2018   Station Gallery, "One with Everything," 25th Juried Exhibition.

2017   Gallery 67, "Summerlicious" Oshawa Art Association, ON
2017    Robert McLaughlin Gallery, "OAA 49th Juried Exhibition" Oshawa.
2017    Station Gallery, "Glimpse" Juried Exhibition, Whitby, ON


2016    Station Gallery, "High School Confidential" Whitby, ON Canada
2016    Station Gallery, "Secret World," Whitby, ON
2015    Station Gallery, "Slice of Life" Juried Exhibition, Whitby, ON
2014     Station Gallery, "Drawing for Art," Whitby, ON
2013     Oshawa City Hall, Art & History Committee Selection,  ON
2013     Station Gallery, "Drawing for Art" Whitby, ON
2012     The Station Gallery, "SHIFT" Juried Exhibition" Whitby, ON
2012     The Station Gallery,  "Reading The Image" Group Show, Whitby, ON  
2011     The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, "Juried Exhibition" Oshawa, ON 
2007     The Station Gallery, "Juried Exhibition" Whitby, ON
2006     The Station Gallery, Juried Exhibition: Subject Matter, Whitby , ON     

1997
    Mandeville Gallery, "Group Exhibition" Toronto, ON

1994    Robert McLaughlin Gallery, "Juried Exhibition" Oshawa, ON
1993    Mandeville Gallery, Group Exhibition, Toronto, ON
1993    Art Gallery of Ontario, "Rentals" Toronto, ON
1992    Robert McLaughlin Gallery, "Juried Exhibition" Oshawa, ON
1991    Joseph D. Carrier Gallery, "Lyrical Perspectives" Toronto, ON
1989    Art Gallery of Hamilton, "Rentals" Hamilton, ON
1989    Art Dialogue Gallery, "Gallery Artists" Toronto, ON
1983    First Canadian Place, "Remy Martin National Competition" Toronto, ON
1981    McMaster University, Art Gallery, "Alumni Exhibition"Hamilton, ON
1978    OISE Art Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

John Di Leonardo  |  Canada  |  905 449 7336 |  johndileonardo@gmail.com
  • HOME
  • DRAWING
  • PAINTING
    • BOOK OF HOURS
    • PRAYERS
  • PRINTS
  • SCULPTURE
  • EXHIBITIONS
    • PUBLICATIONS
    • VIDEO
  • EVENTS
  • POETRY
    • READINGS/EVENTS
    • ANTHOLOGIES
    • PUBLISHED POEMS
    • REVIEWS / VIDEO
    • SAMPLE POETRY / AWARDS
  • CONTACT