Paintings by Francesco Gallé
Italian Icons in Espresso
Portraits in ink and espresso — the faces, music, and villages of the South, painted from memory.
Paintings by Francesco Gallé
Portraits in ink and espresso — the faces, music, and villages of the South, painted from memory.
Artist Statement
I was born in Serra San Bruno, in the mountains of Calabria — not the beaches most people picture when they think of the South, but pine forest, rivers, shepherds and sheep. It's a slower, quieter way of being, and it's stayed with me my whole life.
My father came to Canada in 1951 and worked as a lumberjack until '59. I think that's where my two bodies of work actually meet — the wilderness I paint here in Canada and the mountains I grew up in over there were never as far apart as they look.
I paint with espresso itself — not the grounds, the liquid. I let it sit and age, some of it for decades; one jar I still paint with is from 1996. Coffee isn't a detail to me, it's the culture: fast to drink, slow to live. You walk to the bar, you stand, you talk to your friends — nobody's rushing anything into a to-go cup.
The faces I return to — Sophia Loren, Mastroianni, Fellini — belong to that same old-world Italy: unhurried, stylish, alive. Alongside them are older people, shepherds, and the ordinary faces of a time when family and eating together still meant everything.
Selected Works
Lu Zampognaru and Lu Pecuraru cu li Pecuri are available. All other works shown are sold. Commissions available upon request.
Biography
Francesco Gallé is an established painter, illustrator, and graphic artist working between Canada and his native Italy.
Born in Serra San Bruno, in Calabria, he emigrated to Canada at age six and settled in Toronto's Little Italy, where he still lives and works. This collection draws on that childhood — the town, its people, and the culture he left but never let go of.
His technique ranges from fine pencil work to bold, non-brush painting methods, often painting with espresso itself alongside ink. His exhibitions have been shown at the Bata Shoe Museum and in galleries across Toronto and Sicily, with commissions including the Gardiner Museum and wineries in Tuscany. He is a recipient of the Certosa Award and two Applied Arts awards.
Get in Touch
For commissions in the Italian collection, or any other inquiries, please get in touch.