Stanek Gallery is proud to present The Calling, a solo exhibition of new work by Francis DiFronzo, marking the artist’s Miami debut. Created specifically for this presentation and its audience, the works incorporate subtle references to the city — saturated color, Art Deco–influenced architecture, and graffiti treated as essential visual element rather than surface detail. The exhibition opens with an artist talk and reception on May 16 at Stanek Gallery’s Little River location and runs through July 11, 2025.
In this latest body of work, DiFronzo turns inward, exploring moments in his life defined by an intangible yet persistent pull. These are not grand events, but quiet, formative experiences shaped by memory, instinct, and atmosphere. A decision to return home, a move across the country, or the impulse to paint a red door that later reveals itself as a buried childhood memory all become points of entry into a deeper investigation of intuition and meaning. For DiFronzo, these moments are less about narrative clarity and more about a felt sense of direction, what he describes as a “calling.”
The paintings draw from the visual language of the American landscape while taking on a distinctly psychological dimension. Roadside structures, railcars, and modest architecture appear as markers of human presence and the desire to leave something behind — a piece of graffiti on a temporary structure, a trace of habitation in an otherwise empty space. These quiet gestures speak to a universal impulse to be seen, remembered, and understood.
DiFronzo works with gouache, acrylic, and oil on the same panel, building layered surfaces that yield subtle shifts in transparency, depth, and atmosphere. Light is central to the work: natural and artificial sources interweave, with fluorescent illumination introduced at dusk to create tension and anticipation. The result is a cinematic stillness — evoking the mood and ambiguity of filmmakers such as David Lynch — as though each scene captures the final quiet moment before an unknown event.
The Calling opens May 16, 2025 with an artist talk and reception and remains on view through July 11, 2025.
