The incredible hyper-realistic portraits of Emanuele Dascanio are not only mistaken for photographs, but their eyes are so realistically made that they seem to speak to the viewers. So meticulous is this Italian artist in his drawings that he takes hundreds of hours to complete a single one. The result of this hard work is his amazingly lifelike creations.
This Italian artist, born in Garbagnate Milanese, Italy, was always interested in art. So, it wasn’t surprising that he graduated from Lucio Fontana Art School of Arese, Milan, Italy, and went on to enroll at the Academy of Brera, Milan, Italy. However, he discontinued after six months, not being satisfied with what was being taught there. He joined the atelier of Gianluca Corona, a famous Italian painter and student of Master Mario Donizetti, one of the greatest masters of international realism, to learn from the best.
It was under Corona’s tutelage that Dascanio got trained in oil techniques of the old renaissance masters. Here, he devoted over 50,000 hours on stunning black-and-white portraits in charcoal and graphite and occasional colored ones. Little wonder his artworks have a certain renaissance quality about them.
Whatever teaching Dascanio received from Corona, he combined it with his own style and developed a whole new technique with which he renders his beautiful portraits. They’re a perfect blend of the classic and the contemporary.
For him, his drawings are a symphony of crossing lines and intermingling dots that brings out the soul of the portrait. Little wonder his portraits affect the viewers at a subliminal level.
Dascanio, one of the most accomplished graphite artists in the world, is currently based in Belgrade, Serbia, where he lives and works. His passion for graphite art is evident from his child-like curiosity in trying out new techniques and his meticulous and detailed work in charcoal and graphite on paper. His subjects are normally older, graying men and young women presented in various moods and settings.
Dascanio loves unconventional collaborations. One such was with Max Ghostar, the tattoo legend, where he taught hyper-realistic drawing to the finest tattoo artists from all over the globe. For him, such unconventional collaborations help in evolving his personal style.
Dascanio has over 163,000 followers on Instagram alone. His works have been displayed in various exhibitions at national and international levels. Many of his works are in private collections too all over the world.
Emanuele Dascanio
