Artist Feature
Children Swimming in the River (2022)
Oil
21 x 33"
The Children's Garden (2022)
Oil
18 x 24"
Re-opening (2020)
Oil
24 x 36"
The Weekend (2021)
Oil
36 x 48"
Lisa-Marie and Rain (2023)
Oil
30 x 40"
Re-emergence (2022)
Oil
36 x 48"
The Manzano Sisters (2023)
Oil
30x40"
Store Closing (2020)
Oil
36 x 36"
About Dan Finaldi:
Finaldi grew up in an immigrant home in Rochester, New York. His grandfather bought the property in 1929 and they all lived under the same roof for many years. It was a working-class, immigrant neighbourhood composed predominantly of Italians, Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. Most worked in the garment industry that had several well-known clothing stores and factories in the city.
Finaldi knew he had a creative impulse from a very early age. Down the street from his home was a commercial printer. The man who ran the business, Mr Loyson, regularly gave him scraps of paper that he'd fill with sketches and cartoons; this was how he occupied his free time as a child. After high school, he enrolled at the local community college where he quickly developed a passion for painting. Finaldi's first college teachers were full of love and support, and he still considers himself greatly indebted to them. They encouraged him to transfer to a BFA program in painting at SUNY New Paltz.
The Faculty at New Paltz were, for the most part, New York School Abstract Expressionist painters. There were a few who appreciated figuration but most thought representational painting had to be “Expressionist” in order to be modern. SUNY New Paltz was enlightening as it helped Finaldi clarify that he wanted to be a figurative artist. That decision led him to seek out an MFA program suited to his aesthetic, and he discovered that Brooklyn College was the right fit. He was fortunate enough to be accepted onto their competitive MFA program. His principle mentors at Brooklyn were Lois Dodd, Lennart Anderson and Philip Pearlstein. All of these individuals were seminal artists and wonderful teachers. Lois Dodd became his closest teacher and dear friend. She remains that way for him today.
In 1990, he and his wife moved to Highland Park, New Jersey, after she was accepted onto the Rutgers MA Library Science program. Highland Park turned out to be a town that reminded Finaldi of his Brooklyn neighborhood, so they stayed there after his wife completed her studies and found employment as a librarian. After moving to New Jersey, Lois Dodd introduced him to Mel Leipzig, and within a short period they became very close friends.