While using some precepts of American Scene Painting (romanticism in depicting everyday life, depictions of cities, small towns, and rural landscapes as a return to a simpler life away from industrialization, or to make a political statement in support of revolutionary and radical causes), Francis DiFronzo is pushing his work into nuanced, contemporary territory. Unlike the American Scene Painters, DiFronzo is not depicting a simpler time, he is illuminating a post-apocalyptic world in which the fallout of today’s societal decisions have come to bear on the landscape. The view is harsh but beautiful in its melancholy.
CV
Born, San Pedro, California, 1969
EDUCATION
1998 M.F.A., Painting, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
1994 B.F.A., Painting, California State University, Fullerton
SPECIAL AWARDS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2025 Juror, “New Impressions of Orange County” Juried Exhibition, Kennedy Contemporary, Newport Beach, CA
2016 Artwork featured throughout Season 2 of “Better Call Saul”, Sony Pictures
2004 Pew Fellowship in the Arts, Painting 1998 Painting Stobbart Foundation Fellowship, Painting
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 “Western Front”, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023 “Proof of Life (Part 5)”, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2023 “Proof of Life (Part 4)”, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
2023 “Proof of Life (Part 3)”, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2021 “Proof of Life (Part 2)”, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021 “Of Myth and Mystery”, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2021 “Francis DiFronzo”, Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
2020 “Francis DiFronzo”, George Billis Gallery, New York, NY
2020 “Proof of Life (Part 1), Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 “Parallels”, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2018 “Storytellers”, Francis DiFronzo & Victoria Wyeth, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 “The Half-Life of Dreams (Part 2),” Somerville Manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
2015 “The Half-Life of Dreams,” Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
2014 “The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 5),” Somerville manning Gallery, Greenville, DE
2014 “The Earth’s Sharp Edge (Part 4),” Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM
TEACHING AND BOARD MEMBERSHIP APPOINTMENTS
2024 - Present Instructor, drawing and painting. California State University, Fullerton
2024 - Present Instructor, drawing and painting, Southern California Plein Air Painters Association
2025 Education Committee, Southern California Plein Air Painters Association
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Medium, “Of Myth, Mystery & Memory: Traveling the World in Isolation”, January 2021
Artillery, “Francis DiFronzo”, January 2020
American Art Collector, “Intricate Parts”, January 2020
American Art Collector, “The Half-Life of Dreams”, April 2018
Fine Art Connoisseur, “The Art of Francis DiFronzo”, March 2018
Western Art & Architecture, Ones to Watch: Francis DiFronzo”, April 2016
American Art Collector, “Innovative Transports”, November 2015
Pasatiempo, “Exhibitionism: Francis DiFronzo’s Trains”, October 2014