Robert Maniscalco

Artist Bio:To know about the artist, you must understand Robert’s painting method is built on the classical painting traditions of Rembrandt, Velazquez, Hals and Sargent.  Like these artists, Robert explores the use of light and shadow as a means of creating mood and achieving character expressively in his subjects. Born in Detroit in 1959, he is the son of internationally renowned portrait artist Joseph Maniscalco, with whom he apprenticed during the early 1980’s. Robert has been a professional creative all his adult life. He has lived in New York, New Orleans and currently in Charleston. His commission portraits and fine art are part of over 950 collections throughout North America. In addition to his exquisite portrait art, Robert has created several bodies of work, including Faces of China, Italia, and a series of pastels on velour entitled Chromo Sapient. He continues working on a series called Faces of the Lowcountry, featuring the Gullah Giche people and the Carolina Lowcountry as well as a series called, Iconic Charleston. He has been focusing on a new series called, The Quench Project, in which he is traveling to Haiti and producing paintings, a documentary short and a companion book, expressing the Haitian struggle with obtaining fresh water. in partnership with Watermission. The series has expanded to include multiple manifestations of  desire and what it means to quench it. In Detroit he hosted Artbeat on PBS and founded the Maniscalco Gallery. He is also an actor/director, writer/playwright, musician/composer and teacher, an Adjunct Professor in fine art and theatre at Charleston Southern University. Recently, Robert expanded his creative milieu to include courtroom sketching, covering the Dylann Roof and Michael Slager trials in Charleston. His original play, Vincent John Doe, received its world premiere during the 2018 and 2019 Piccolo Spoletto Festivals. As Vincent Robert painted in the style of Van Gogh, during the action of the play.

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