D’Onofrio’s evolution has been stimulated and shaped by a variety of events and choices along the path of life. Honors and prizes like the first prize at the international center for Arts and Letters in 1987, the silver medal in Bézier in 1988, the Bronze medal of the Paris Academy of Arts and Letters in 1990 are bestowed on him. FR3 television channel has shown him in his own studio. Various radio stations invite him, including France-Culture where he participates in the "Night butterfly" show. Group shows and his commitment to his art have taken him far and wide. The independents’ Salon and the Fall Salon in Paris welcome him. So do Picardie, Orléans, Béziers, Basel, Milan, Rome, Chicago.
In 1996, he was asked to create a label for a special Grand Cru wine celebrating the 100th Birthday of the newspaper l’Alsace. A sample was sent into space to join the Franco-Russian mission Cassiopeia. He feels that in order to perfect his artistic education, traveling for the purpose of questioning himself and his art is absolutely crucial. D’Onofrio decides to explore the United States of America. Confronting this new world is not without difficulties and set-backs. No previous knowledge is there to guide him and he sails toward uncertain horizons. A first meeting at a gallery in Philadelphia leads to a show.
Bolstered by this adventure, he returns to Europe in 1999.
In march 2000, the New-York Riverrun film festival commisions him to create the festival’s official poster.
His first book entitled Périoste is published in Novembre 2000. Through paintings and stories it invites the reader to the discovery of a rather unusual itinerary.
Brooklyn, NY On View: February 1 - March 31, 2007. Henry Gregg Gallery takes pleasure in presenting the paintings of world-renowned painter, Fernand D'onofrio. The upcoming show will consist of paintings created with mixed media. The artist's work, while influenced by Asia's culture and history, is not bound by it. For D'onofrio, travel serves as a necessary inspiration for his work. After showing extensively throughout Europe, D'onofrio traveled to the United States to explore new territory, both literally and figuratively. Through his largely abstract canvases, enlivened by vivid reds and juxtaposing shapes, he plumbs the depths of those “natural elements which constitute our world and supernatural manifestations.“ Interestingly, D'onofrio's painting even went beyond the reaches of Earth when a reproduction of one was blasted into space, bound for the space station Mir during the Franco-Russian mission, “Cassiopeia.”
Fernand D'onofrio has exhibited widely in both group exhibitions and salons in Europe and in solo exhibitions in France, Italy, Switzerland,Spain, Japan, and the United States. He has been the recipient of numerous honors and prizes including First Prize at the International Center for Arts and Letters, Silver Medal in Bézier, and The Bronze Medal of the Paris Academy of Arts and Letters.
Many thanks to the overwhelming crowds that attended the opening to give our artiste a very warm welcome in Dumbo!
Biographie
1963 His parents having arrived in France in1952, Fernand d’Onofrio was born in Guebwiller, a small town in Alsace nestled between the soft Vosges Mountains and opulent vineyards.
1971 D’Onofrio wins first place in a drawing competition organized by his school. This marks the start of his true passion for painting.
1978 The boiler-room in the basement of his parents’ house becomes his first studio. He has his first show in 1979. He applies to the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Mulhouse and is rejected. The resulting feeling of injustice propels D’Onofrio in a frenzy of work. The self-made man will turn his study of art into a personal challenge to established institutions.
1981 He leaves his parents’ home to settle in a small apartment, which becomes his studio. In these calm and friendly surroundings he organizes debates on art and its social role.
1982 D’Onofrio often goes to Paris and his works are shown at the Grand Palais.
1984 AGF, a major insurance company, invites him to show his works at its headquarters in Lyon. Critics unanimously predict a bright future to the young artist. Other shows follow making this good omen more and more likely.
1986 Health problems linked to paint thinners and other solvents force him to stay away from painting. He destroys all his paintings and trashes his studio where he won’t set foot for the next six months. After discovering synthetic paint, he gets up during a sleepless night, he goes to his studio and gets to work amidst the rubbish. An idea has sprung in his mind: his studio would become a laboratory where he would test the possibilities of this new synthetic medium, acrylic paint.
1988 Switzerland and more particularly Basel afford him an ideal observatory for the discovery of international artists as well as the opportunity to measure himself up to them
1989 He joins a group of international artists from the tri-border region between France, Germany and Switzerland.
1991 fly to the U.S.A. For the next eight years he will spend much time in Philadelphia, New York and Chicago. He settles first at George School in Newtown close to Philadelphia. In 1992 he meets a collector from New York who takes an interest in him and introduces him to several public institutions where he will show his works on several occasions.
1992 Show at the Schmitt-Dean Gallery in Philadelphia.
1993 D’Onofrio finds a home for his studio in the old Steinway factory in a small town near Chicago.
1994 D’Onofrio goes to Chicago, a city holding a special place in his heart. That same year he creates a gigantic fresco for the World Paper Company of Chicago.
1996 The Elmhurst Museum invites him for an important exhibit on the theme of color as mirror.
1999 D’Onofrio is sought after and commissioned by a local daily newspaper for a painting to be carried by Claudie Aigneray, the French astronaut, on board the Franco-Russian space mission Cassiopeia.
2000 He organizes a show for the publishing of his limited edition book, Perioste.
2001 The River Run Film Festival of New York entrusts him with the creation of their inaugural poster. The Holcim Company commissions ten large paintings for their new headquarters in Zurich.
2002 Corona of Mexico buys the entirety of two successive shows presented in 2002 and 2003 at the International Art Salon of Madrid. In October the city of Lucerne in Switzerland shows his work.
2004 Two simultaneous shows are organized in New York at the Tama Gallery and at the Henry Gregg Gallery in Brooklyn.
2005 He discovers Morocco and he is deeply moved. He describes the country as timeless, moving and carnal. The beauty of Morocco, he says, comes in part from the fact that asphalt has not yet shrouded its ever present history. In a page long article “Le Matin” praises his career, his artistic qualities and more particularly his vision of the world around him.
2006 He is commissioned for a monumental fresco for a chateau nestles in the vineyards, near Colmar the Alsatian wines capital.
2007 D’Onofrio is invited for another visit to Morocco. An exhibit entitled Solar Choreography is organized in collaboration with two Moroccan artists at the Villa des Arts in Rabat.
2008 At the opening of the Villa des Arts exhibit he meets Karim Bennani who invites him to show his works at his brand-new foundation. At the same time, having already acquired one painting, CNIA insurance company commissions a very large one for their headquarters in Casablanca.
The organizers of the Dubai film festival notice D’Onofrio and invite him to realize a public performance on a very large canvas. Fascinated by the quality of his work done impromptu and live in front of television cameras, they invite him to come back late in
2009 In January, D’Onofrio accepts the invitation of the French Institute in Meknes. D’Onofrio exhibits his works at the Venise Cadre Gallery in Casablanca.
