Frank Gallo is an American sculptor born in Toledo, Ohio, in 1933. He was the youngest of four children born to a Sicilian shoe repairman and inventor. Gallo’s passion for art was ignited at a young age, thanks to the Toledo Museum of Art, located close to his family home, which he frequented during his childhood. He absorbed the details of classical art, received direct instruction in drawing, painting, and sculpture, which eventually paved the way for a remarkable career in the arts.
Gallo attended the University of Toledo, where he received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in education in 1956. In the summer of the same year, he began graduate work at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. However, he temporarily gave up the program for a year to teach art to students at the elementary and secondary school level. Gallo resumed his graduate work in 1958 at the University of Iowa, focusing on both sculpture and printmaking.
In 1959, Gallo accepted a teaching appointment at the University of Illinois. Five years later, he resigned from his teaching post to focus on his career as a commercial artist. Around this time, he started to exhibit his work with the Graham Gallery in New York and Felix Landau in Los Angeles.
Throughout his career, Gallo has consistently worked with sculptures, employing various materials to create his pieces. For several years, he exhibited large epoxy figures before he went to France in 1972 to study glass at Daum Crystallerier. Since 1977, he has been working primarily with cast paper, a technique he now teaches in the handmade paper and paper casting program he helped initiate at the University of Illinois.
Gallo’s sculptures are known for their figurative and realistic qualities. His figures are often depicted in everyday activities such as reading, playing musical instruments, and dancing, but he also creates abstract and surrealist pieces. Gallo’s style is characterized by clean lines, fluid forms, and simplified shapes, which provide a sense of clarity and balance to his work.
Gallo’s work has been exhibited in over 50 galleries and museums worldwide. His sculptures have been displayed at prestigious venues such as The Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Art in Montreal, Canada, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan, Italy, and the Helsinki Museum in Finland.
In addition to exhibiting his work, Gallo has received numerous awards throughout his career. He received the Gold Medal for Sculpture from the National Academy of Design in 1975, and in 1985, he was elected to the National Academy of Design, becoming a full member in 1989.
Frank Gallo is a master of sculpture and paper casting, whose unique style and consistent subject matter have earned him international recognition. His artistic journey began in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, where he discovered his passion for art at a young age. Gallo’s dedication to his craft has resulted in a prolific career, which has been recognized with numerous accolades, exhibitions, and publications. Today, his work continues to inspire and captivate art enthusiasts and collectors alike.
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