One of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Vincent Fantauzzo, has just opened a new gallery and studio in Melbourne’s Chapel Street.
He has high hopes of it becoming a haven for young artistic dreamers.
“I want to bring art to the people,” he tells Woman’s Day.
“I was nervous to go into an art gallery when I was young and I would like young people to think they can become an artist and have a career. I hate [when they say], ‘What’s your back-up?’”
Vincent, 48, knows more than most about the power of dreaming big.
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He’s just released his raw memoir, Unveiled, in which he delves deep into a traumatic childhood that saw him overcome poverty, an abusive father, being kicked out of school at 14 and escaping a life of petty crime.
“I probably have a problem with oversharing,” he laughs. “But [the response is] why I make art and it’s why I told my story.”
COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
Vincent’s lifelong battle with dyslexia made writing a book challenging.
The words in the memoir are his, but the process to get them on the page was unconventional.
Vincent would have long conversations with his ghost writer, Craig Henderson, and together the story came to life.
“When I did the first Australian Story [in 2019] and it was based mainly on my dyslexia, I had a really strong response but I felt like there was a bit more that I could share and that people could relate to,” Vincent says.
“The book was therapeutic to deal with a lot of things I had swept under the rug.”
Vincent’s actress wife Asher Keddie read through draft chapters with him, and in the process, she learned secrets he’d never shared with anyone.
“Asher would help me read the book back and we spent a lot of times crying and a lot of times laughing, and even learning about each other because she would then talk about herself,” he says.
“It was therapy, couples therapy, life therapy.”
Working on such raw material together has also brought them closer.
“I think it helped us both understand how we react to things in daily life, where it comes from,” he says.
“It is a more open and understanding relationship because of the book.”
With two sons, 10-year-old Valentino with Asher, 50, and 15-year-old Luca from a previous marriage, Vincent is determined not to be like his own absent father.
“I’m an absolute believer in creating your own path and not repeating a cycle that’s negative. I hope I’m doing a good job. To me, success is if my boys, when they’re adults and they have their own kids, can say they had a great dad and upbringing.”
Though he and Asher’s parenting styles are different – “Asher’s very organised, extremely loving, sets boundaries and I’m a bit silly, a bit fun” – together they’re
a tight-knit family unit.
“[The boys] can come to me with anything, without judgement – well, I might have secret judgement – but I want to always have that with them,” Vincent says of his “soccer-obsessed” sons.
“I told my 15-year-old, if you ever stop hugging me and saying you love me, that’s when I’m going to be pissed!”
NEW ROLE MODELS
Along the way, Vincent has had surrogate fathers who have given him the love and guidance he craved.
He bonded with late friend Heath Ledger’s dad, Kim, when Vincent’s painting of the actor won an Archibald Prize in 2008, shortly after his tragic death.
“We are very like-minded. I feel like it would be unfair to say he’s a ‘fatherly figure’ because he’s a lot more than that and Heath was his son,” Vincent reflects.
“He’s a mentor, a friend, confidant. And I hope that I am back to him.”
Kim has also shown him the importance of being open and honest with his own boys to “understand their way” – something Kim wishes he’d done with Heath.
“One of the things Kim pointed out was that Heath was very spiritual, and Kim at that time, wasn’t. He didn’t understand Heath sometimes – and he does now. And I think he wishes that Heath had seen that in him.”
Unveiled is out now! You can grab your copy from Amazon here for $24.00.
