Vincent Fantauzzo (b. 1977), 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. A finalist in the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award and several other prizes during 2006 and 2007, 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 Lurhmann 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.
Fantauzzo has held solo shows regularly since 2003 and his work has featured in many group exhibitions throughout Australia. He has said that his goal as an artist is to bridge the gap between art and the general public: 'My big passion is to make art accessible in the same way chefs have done with cooking. You know if you ask the average person to name five artists they can't. But if you ask them to name five criminals, or five chefs, they can'.
