Jerome Gastaldi is a contemporary American artist of Italian ancestry, whose work combines first hand impressions, perceptions and observations that explore and comment upon our society. Gastaldi’s powerful works stand astride the borderline between Expressionism and Surrealism, and have been compared by art critics to that of Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Kienholz, and Francis Bacon. His creative process is both emotional and intuitive, as evidenced by Gastaldi’s rapid handling of paint, his distortion of the human figure, the rich use of symbols, and the inclusion of found objects. There is a complexity and depth to his multi-layered imagery that reflects what the modern world offers the individual; not fixed, solitary images that can be grasped and reflected upon, but instead a seemingly unceasing flow that blurs the sense of reality and threatens to overwhelm the ability to comprehend.

He lives and works in Southern California. His studio is on his four acre ranch called Rancho Capriata, named after the town of Capriata de Orba in Northern Italy, where his family is originally from. He works in a number of media, including painting, sculpture, print making, and performance.

Gastaldi’s work has been exhibited internationally in museums, universities and other public institutions, as well as held in public, private and corporate collections.

To see other works by the artist, as well as his exhibition Bridges to Freedom, which focuses on the positive and important aspects of the diversity of American culture, please visit www.peopleoftheboats.com