Carmelo Blandino
   Hot off the heels of the Toronto art fair, and his third solo show at the Bau-xi gallery in Toronto, Carmelo Blandino, a fine Italian painter who hails from Montreal, and is currently residing in Florida, knows who his audience is; his forte is with adapting classic techniques for a thoroughly modern audience. He does this by painting with encaustic, a medium using hot wax, usually bees wax, and pigment.
   It is rare to find a painter that can take the most time honored subjects of painting, landscapes, florals and the human figure, and make them feel fresh and sincere.
  Although he is best known for painting landscapes that are meditative and introspective, within the last year, Blandino has ventured into florals. Playing with dimension, his paintings, which tend toward large-scale works – are partly flat, partly sculptural, deliver an appealing contrast. The artist’s many florals are rendered in unambiguous, masculine strokes.
These flowers are anything but fragile and fleeting – they are bold, gargantuan, definitive: Mahler to others’ Mozart.
  Blandino’s interests lie in the natural order that gives life comfort in between everyday comings and goings, that silent moment in the midst of a routine task. Blandino recently made the short list for the New Eastern Canadian Painting Competition sponsored by the RBC Private Council and supported by the Canadian Art Foundation. One of Blandino’s paintings was recently auctioned at the Art Gallery of Ontario, taking in the second highest bid.

Education
1983-1984 Vanier College: Creative Arts
1985-1988 Dawson College: Illustration and Design

Workshops
2000-2001 Saidie Bronfman Center: Drawing and painting

Teaching
1992- 1994 St Lawrence College, Fine Arts Department,Ontario
1991-2006 Dawson College Montréal, Québec
Professor of drawing, painting in the Illustration and Design Program

Bibliography
2006 Canadian House & Home / Tea Time, page 72
2005 Toronto Star, Deft Mix of Light & Dark
2002 Corriere Italiano, May 6th , L’Encan per Santa Cabrini,
un appuntamento divertente da non mancare!
2001 Grafika Magazine, numero 68, mars 2001, Carmelo Blandino illustrateur,
Le Talent Partagé

Experiences
2002-2007 Artist painter / Canada,USA
Vice-president / Nine High Inc., Montréal
1991-2006 Professor / Dawson College Montréal
Illustration & Design Program
1998-2004 Studio 100 Dessins
1992-1994 Professor St-Lawrence College / Ontario
1992-1998 President / Carmelo Blandino Illustrations Inc., Montréal
1991-1992 Assistant illustrator / Suzanne Duranceau Inc., Montréal
1989-1991 Illustrator / Studio de la Montagne, Montréal
1986-1989 Anchor advertising, Montréal

Shows
2007 Sanctus- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Chicago Art Fair
Toronto Art Fair
2006 Toronto Art Fair
Palm Beach Art Fair, Galerie De Bellefeuille
Solo show,Vivo- Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto
Small works- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Solo show- Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver
Solo show- Galerie De Bellefeuile, Montréal
2005 Figura - Galerie De Bellefeuille
Group Show Galerie De Bellefeuille
Group II Show Galerie De Bellefeuille
Solo show at Galerie de Bellefeuille - Landscapes and Florals
Art Chicago - Art Fair
Art For Life - Casey House Foundation
Toronto International Art Fair
2004 The Painted Gift - Hubert Gallery in New York
Small Works - Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto
Small Works - Bau-Xi Gallery in Vancouver
Art For Life - Casey House Foundation
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Galerie De Bellefeuille, Montréal
Circa 700 - Bau-Xi Gallery Toronto
2003 Pausa - Bau-IX Gallery in Toronto
Galerie De Bellefeuille. Montréal
2002 Galerie Simon Blais, Montréal
Bau-IX Gallery in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Montréal
New Canadian Painting Royal Bank of Canada, Place Ville-Marie, Montréal
New Canadian Painting Competition, Royal Bank of Canada Exhibit, Ottawa
Viva Italia, Holt Renfrew, Montréal