5 Things We Learned... Evan Fugazzi

Evan Fugazzi’s evolution from architect to still-life painter to abstract painter has been lovely to witness. The intentionality of his color and form seems spontaneous but is in fact influenced by his training as a classical architect and academic painter. He was one of the first artists I commissioned for Tiffany and Co. while curating in-store artwork. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Evan attended the University of Notre Dame, specializing in classical architecture but it was during a study-abroad experience in Rome, Italy that his passion for painting surfaced. After university, he returned to Italy and pursued an education in academic painting at The Florence Academy of Art. The Academy has two locations - the venerable Florence, Italy and its more upstart cousin in Gothenburg, Sweden. Evan studied at both, benefitting from the diversity in style, landscape, and culture. He went on to study with the prodigious Odd Nerdrum and served as a painting instructor at The Florence Academy of Art in Gothenburg before returning to the US to complete an MFA at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). Evan was awarded a 2018 fellowship with the Ballinglen Arts Foundation at Ballycastle in Ireland, which begins this November, and has an upcoming exhibition in 2019 with Gross McCleaf Gallery, a contemporary realist gallery in Philadelphia.

Fun fact: Evan and I went to high school together.

Here are 5 Things We Learned about Evan.

What made you…you?

My willingness to try the uncertain.

Would rather have a muse or be a muse?

I am always looking for inspiration.

When are you happiest?

Leaving my studio exhausted.

Who do you admire?

Those who are both kind and courageous.

What is important?

Today, it is being open to small adventures right in front of me.