The incredible true story of how a street-fighting petty criminal, who was kicked out of school at fourteen, became one of Australia's most celebrated and successful portrait artists.
Raised amid poverty and violence on the poor streets of Melbourne, Vincent Fantauzzo was just a boy when he accepted he would either die very young, become a gangster or end up behind bars. Tormented by a troubled home life and dismissed as a simpleton at school where he struggled to read and write, Vincent projected a violent and frightening persona as a means of self-protection. Inside that tough exterior, however, lived a thoughtful, sensitive and creative boy whose only wish was to be loved - and to one day break free of the intergenerational dysfunction he seemed doomed to inherit. He could never have imagined how far his dream of a better life - and an uncanny knack for drawing - would take him.
Virtually illiterate, Vincent used forged papers to hustle his way into art school where dark secrets threatened to sink his brilliant career before it even began. Today his work hangs in galleries around the world including the National Portrait Gallery and Federal Parliament House in Canberra. He's sold out international exhibitions, won the Archibald Prize People's Choice Award more times than any artist and taken out the Doug Moran Portrait Prize. Twice.
Arguably Vincent's most impressive and important achievement is his survival and the remarkable, sometimes ridiculous and occasionally glamorous, life he willed into existence despite severe and undiagnosed dyslexia that left him with no formal education and debilitating memory problems. Sometimes tragic, often hilarious but always deeply moving, Unveiled is a paint-spattered, star-studded, white-knuckle ride from the Housing Commission ghettos of Australia to the art galleries of Hong Kong, through the back roads of India and into the nightclubs of New York as Vincent chases his dream with humility, humour and a boundless love for people and a life better lived.
About the Author
Vincent Fantauzzo, award-winning portrait artist, was born in England and grew up in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. He completed a BA and a Masters in Fine Arts at RMIT, graduating in 2005. Fantauzzo truly emerged onto the portrait scene when his striking painting of his friend Heath Ledger took out the coveted People’s Choice Award at the 2008 Archibald Prize. The portrait was acquired for the Art Gallery of New South Wales collection, and Fantauzzo won the People’s Choice Award again in 2009, 2013 and 2014. In 2011, his Archibald-shortlisted portrait of chef Matt Moran won the Packing Room Prize; and his painting of director Baz Luhrmann was awarded the Moran National Portrait Prize the same year. In 2015, he made the first of several painting trips to Central Australia, where he collaborated with Wentja Napaltjarri, Tommy Watson, Gloria Petyarre and Kudditji Kngwarreye to create a series of triptychs. In 2018, he was commissioned by the Historic Memorials Committee to create the official portrait of Julia Gillard for the Parliament House collection. The National Portrait Gallery commissioned Fantauzzo in 2020 to create a portrait of Hugh Jackman, the first representation of the famed Australian for the collection.
