'Jackie - Before the Storm'
Acrylic on canvas, 34″ x 46″.
“This portrait of Jackie was painted in honor of our beloved first lady. America was in its most hopeful period and she stood out like a beacon of light” - Giovanni DeCunto
Mere moments before history was broadcasted live in front of the world to see. Seen smiling from ear to ear, First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, shortly before her husband, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated. Like so many promising leaders before him, President John F. Kennedy’s life was cut short, and the dreams of a generation were altered instantly.
DeCunto's artist statement: 'My paintings are my palette for chaos and order to collide. I take the high art and the low art, which is commonplace, and let them battle it out on the canvas. The contemporary issues confronted in the work provoke a response, both emotional and intellectual, and symbolize the struggle towards birth that our society now faces. We are at the beginning. Painting, to me, is the great equalizer. I paint for humanity. I call to arms; the eternal spirit of man, the builder, the organizer and the evolutionary spirit that creates civilizations. I am speaking of that common, human thread that the great thinkers of the past continue to teach to us; the common link which triumphs over adversity, poverty and injustice.'
