“Art is a universal language. The more you give, the more you get back.” By Stacey Donovan
Una Escuelita, the Little School in Limon Dos, Nicaragua
age of eight years old — once he held that ecause no other artistic medium can Brownie Hawkeye in his hands. focus – or blur – the difference between “I would take pictures, roll after roll, realism and abstraction, photography of little Italian ladies with gold teeth, buns exists in its own realm. As fast as 1/8000th of in their hair, sitting on stoops, their nylons a second, a photograph can capture a moment, rolled down below their knees and tied in create a memory that mirrors an actual event, a knot. Then I’d drop the film off at the and through the drugstore and stay vision of Frank awake every night Roccanova, becounting the days come an inimiuntil it came table work of art. back.” Roccanova’s Just a few Nicarauga series, years later, Roccahis most recent nova had begun body of phowoodworking tographic work, and drawing as depicts images working with any viewer would his hands was most likely perhis natural inclin ceive as abstract ation. His burgeonLittle old lady, 1952 painting. This ing business sense seeming paraalso found a solid dox demonstrates the evolution of Roccaniche in the neighborhood when during nova’s artistic psyche, for he is at once a realist Christmas-time he approached some local and an idealist. He creates another level of shops and offered to embellish their windows complexity by taking these bold colored and for about ten dollars each. He would trace textured photographs and printing them on drawings with crayon, “staying in the lines, canvas and watercolor paper, as if they were of course,” and then paint the windows with paintings. watercolors. While Roccanova says “I received my “There was Santa Claus coming out of education in life on the streets of Brooklyn the chimney at the beauty shop, or playing and my education in art at New York pool at the bar across the street, or the whole City’s School of Visual Arts” (where as an nativity scene — that one cost $25 I think, advertising major he graduated in 1964), the a lot of money for a 10-year-old. After I artist’s photography career truly began at the painted a wreath with Santa winking inside
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60 • Fine Art Magazine • Spring 2009
it for the pizzeria, I went over the next day to admire my handiwork. The owner came running at me with a knife because his place was right under the El and the condensation from the pizza ovens had caused the paint to run down the windows. That ‘work of art’ lasted around 11 hours.” There is no doubt that every artist has
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