When renowned artist Vincent Fantauzzo found out LEGO Australia was reimagining the 12 Days Of Christmas with murals in Melbourne, he knew he had to get involved.
Not just because it was a unique opportunity as an artist, but because his 10-year-old son Luca demanded it.
“I get so busy and I do turn down a lot of jobs,” Vincent tells Now To Love.
“I told Luca I got this email about doing a project with LEGO and he said ‘Dad, if you dare not do this job I will never talk to you again.’
“I wouldn’t do that anyway, because it’s so exciting for me to collaborate with LEGO, but I had no choice.”
Vincent’s son Luca was adamant he work with LEGO on the project.
(Image: LEGO Australia)Vincent admits he “lives amongst LEGO chaos daily in my normal life,” where he’s married to actress Asher Keddie. Together the pair have four-year-old son Valentino and Vincent’s son Luca, from a previous relationship.
For his mural subject, the four-time Archibald Prize People’s Choice Award-winner chose to paint a stunning portrait of his youngest son, with help from his oldest.
“As much as Luca demanded I do the job for LEGO, Valentino has been telling us that he’s the only one in the family that hasn’t been painted. So that was another no-brainer,” Vincent reveals.
Creativity inspired Vincent and Luca’s mural, with it being the theme of their portrait of Valentino. The song line above their work in Knox Place, Melbourne, reads, “On the 1st day of Christmas my imagination dreamt for me … a bag full of creativity.”
Vincent and Luca work on their mural in Melbourne.
(Image: Instagram @vincent_fantauzzo)Of their mural, Vincent, 42, reveals it’s inspired by the creativity he and Asher, 45, foster in their home.
“I always look at all kids as being artists and at some point they get to a certain age and they feel that if they can’t do it well enough, or it doesn’t look real enough, they lose their confidence in being creative,” he says.
“We always work [on projects] together at home and the kids come in to the studio,” he continues.
“Luca likes to leave some kind of secret mark on everything he touches, it’s kind of a little thing he always does. Sometimes he leaves bigger marks than are necessary [laughs]. But, yeah, we enjoy the process of being a part of things; I think it’s really important to the whole family.”
Asher and Vincent inspire their creative children.
(Image: Instagram @vincent_fantauzzo)As they head towards the holiday season, Vincent reveals one of the family’s favourite traditions involves watching a mix of classic and so-bad-they’re-good Christmas movies.
“Asher and I – you know we will be talking about our experiences as kids and we keep remembering all these exciting things – but as a kid I remember the Christmas movies coming out,” he says. “I get so excited about our family watching Christmas movies, so I’m keeping my eye out for what we can watch this year, we already started actually.
“It’s hit and miss. There are some really good ones, but if you start a bad one you just have to sit through it and it’s like you sort of enjoy how bad it is [laughs]. You can’t go wrong! And you realise when you were a kid there was nothing like the excitement of Christmas.”
Naturally, the artistic family create their own baubles for their Christmas tree.
“Decorating the Christmas tree is another one we like,” he reveals. “We make a lot of ornaments that go on the tree. We spray paint stuff, we do origami things, whatever’s the trend! Luca will normally have the trend in school he brings home and we do that. Yeah the origami ones are killing us… there’s a lot of origami on the tree.
“And of course on Christmas day seeing the kids out running around is exciting, and playing as an adult, that’s exciting too,” he adds.
Vincent and Asher love decorating their Christmas tree with their boys.
(Image: Instagram @vincent_fantauzzo)Along with decorating their own Christmas baubles and watching cheesy festive flicks, Vincent reveals the family look forward to small trips around the holidays.
“I’m very disorganised and most people know that about me, and Asher is the opposite, she’s very organised – thank God – and she has plans for us and some of them are kind of secret. She keeps them a secret so that we don’t get involved.
“We have Christmas at my mum’s in the country, and then we’re off for a couple of short trips that Asher’s got planned for us!”
As we approach the end of a decade, Vincent calls the past 10 years of life a “blur.”
“The last ten years I feel like my life went in to hyperspeed and it’s not slowing down,” he reveals. “There have been so many great things, you know? Luca is 10, Asher and I got married and we’ve had big turning points and things in our career, and we also just manage to spend quiet time as a family as well.
“I think trying to find that balance a bit, we’re doing a better job of it now. What we realise is all the – even towards the end of the year – it’s just madness, everyone wants to get everything done and then the clock ticks over and you’re back to normal anyway. I think we try not to panic about the change in the day so much.
“I say it’s calm, but around 5 o’clock in our house every single night is madness,” he laughs.
Christmas with the Fantauzzo-Keddie clan will be a memorable one!
(Image: Instagram @vincent_fantauzzo)LEGO Australia’s The 12 Days Of Christmas murals can be seen at Knox Place, Melbourne Central, from Tuesday 3rd to Monday 30th of December.
