Artist Carmelo Sortino

Carmelo Sortino is a bold and innovative painter living in Vancouver, Canada. Born in Sicily in 1939, he approaches his art-making with vigor and passion.

Sortino's striking work includes still life paintings with brilliantly colored fruit, flags, and Italian plates - some with images taken from European masters like Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, and Modigliani - as well as new landscapes and recent conceptual paintings.

"I have used fruit as a metaphor of sensuality in much the same way that Morandi used his bottles and jars, or Cezanne his beloved Mont-Ste-Victoire. All are inexhaustible subject matter. Each piece of fruit is unique in shape and color, and that is what I seek to portray in my paintings: the individual nuances and personalities. Recently I am painting landscapes with the same enthusiasm. I strive to make each work a unique visual and sensory experience."