CITY OF DREAMS UNABRIDGED: Striking a Creative Note: Passion to Process

By D. Dominick Lombardi 

Published by Walter Wickiser Gallery 

Price: $39.95 

About the Book: 

Layla Fanucci's paintings embody the mystery, thrill and contraditctions of these urban environments. They lure the viewer in with suggestions of wide boulevards and labyrinthine streets, while at the same time they deflect with phalanxes of walls and windows and shafts of reflected light. They are all the work of a multi-talented artist who began as a musician and teacher, then changed media in midlife, finding in canvas and oils the perfect tools to express her unique vision and global perspective.  

D. Dominick Lombardi explores the secret to this artist's success. Part of it lies in the very individual style of her paintings and singular way she produces them. Fanucci works on her paintings in much the same way the centuries have worked on the cities she depicts, adding, subtracting, then adding again. She builds the images, layer upon layer, often plotting out three or four cities, and burying each under a fresh layer of paint, before constructing a new one on top. Often the earlier cities bleed through the more recent ones, creating a pentimento that suggests multiple dimensions in time and space.