Biography
Deborah Lanino is an American artist based in Los Angeles whose paintings filter Renaissance subject matter through a contemporary lens. Her work has been described as “thoroughly contemporary, yet rooted in tradition and filled with “Renaissance resonances.”
As a descendant of Bernardino Lanino (1512-1582), a successful Renaissance painter from Vercelli, Italy, Deborah has a unique connection to the art world. She finds this connection imbues her paintings with a unique insight.
Deborah was born in New York and holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Pratt Institute and a Master’s Degree from Argosy University. She also studied art abroad at SACI in Florence, Italy.
Upon graduating from Pratt, she remained in New York City, working at the Museum of Modern Art, where she met renowned artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Frank Stella, Christo and Jean Claude. She spent a decade illustrating books from her apartment in Chelsea (her first was the Christmas classic, “The Littlest Angel”). She also illustrated posters for the theater, magazine covers, and book jackets.
In 2001, Deborah and her family moved to the Los Angeles area, where she exhibited at the Huntington Library Art Museum and Botanical Gardens and spoke at the UCLA Festival of Books. She also has exhibited in galleries in New York City, Albany, Massachusetts, Hernando, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Laguna Beach, Pasadena, and Florence, Italy.
Deborah is also a featured artist in the Berkeley Interreligious Pilgrimage Project through the Graduate Theological Union.
Artist Statement
I remember drawing as soon as I could hold a crayon and was fortunate that my family encouraged my love of the arts. Much later, while studying in Florence, Italy, I had the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of a part of my heritage and a unique link to the art world. Bernardino Lanino (1512-1582), a successful Renaissance painter from Vercelli, Italy, is an ancestor. His works from so long ago still have a powerful impact on viewers.
In my Angel series, I use Renaissance techniques such as chiaroscuro (lights and darks), and sfumato (blurring edges). My painting, Greek Cross, is abstract yet contains meditative and transcendent tones through light, color and design.
Color fascinates me. I work with a vibrant palette creating thin, painterly layered glazes as well as impasto effects. The natural beauty of the west coast influences my palette.
Themes of spirituality and nature find their way into my work, the goal of which is to uplift and bring positivity to the viewer.
