︎ Liz Evans Photography

Alessandro Tomassetti is a Canadian figurative painter based in Barcelona. He is known for his intimate portraits of contemporary men. Dramatic lighting and a moody color palette compliment his naturalistic rendering technique to capture the vulnerability and sensuality of his male subjects, the likes of which is most often associated with the female form. Intended to invert the male gaze, Tomassetti’s oil paintings seduce the viewer into appreciating the male form while confronting cultural tenets of masculinity.

Curriculum Vitae

Tomassetti paints men, describing his models as “the beardos, surfers, slicksters, femmes, machos, dandies, and neo-hippies that populate social media.” He firmly believes that today’s age of the digital selfie has increased the value and standing of the painted portrait.︎ Kloosterboer on Tomassetti

shown/selected:

2019 Painting The Figure Now
-Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau
-Zhou B Art Center, Chicago

2019 International Biennial Portrait Competition
-Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau

2019 I Observe
-Rehs Contemporary, New York

2019 ARC Salon
-MEAM, Barcelona

2018 Gallery Artist Show
-Carolyn Kramer Gallery, Provincetown

2018 Painting The Figure Now
-Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, Wausau

2018 Studio 54
-Jo Hay Open Studio Gallery, Provincetown

2018 Visions of Venus
-Zhou B Art Center, Chicago

2017 ARC Salon
-Sagamundi Club, New York

2017 Figurativas’17, finalist
-MEAM, Barcelona

2016 BP Portrait Award, finalist
-National Portrait Gallery, London

2015 Figurativas’15, finalist
-MEAM, Barcelona

2014 Blood Brothers
-M.O.B., Barcelona

2013 Sex
-Anagligos Gallery, Barcelona

2013 Bedtime Stories, group
-Mitte Artspace, Barcelona

featured:

Vogue Living: June 2019

Architectural Digest: Volume 9 (USA), Number 140 (Spain), Number 151 (France), 2018

Poets and Artist Magazine: The New Nude, Family, Visions of Venus, Eros’ Gaze, PaintingThe Figure Now, I Observe, Adorn Me

collected:

Los Angeles, Cape Town, New York, Madrid, Toronto, Palm Springs, Geneva, London, Seattle, Oslo, Chicago, Princeton

“Around the time I started painting, it became clear that my favourite artists throughout history had painted males but my favourite contemporary figurative artists mostly focused on female subjects. Contemporary male portraits still seem reserved for important men, that is, conventionally powerful men.” Alessandro Tomassetti

AlessandroTomassetti