Emilie Fantuz

Emilie Fantuz’ cityscapes combine thick, bold application with a striking sense of optimism. She builds undulating forms from bright, high contrast palettes to create new perspectives on familiar streets and buildings.

Our urban environments are built from dense materials of concrete, asphalt and steel. Fantuz rebuilds them on each of her canvases using palette knives to create layers of heavily applied impasto. She emphasizes nocturnal scenes where the bright, reflective, and colourful lights at street level stand out against the natural night sky. The figures in these scenes deepen the juxtaposition between the natural and the constructed. Their bodies, postures, and positioning in the composition tell of intimate moments of warmth within known surroundings. Fantuz softens the angles and forms of the streets and buildings, while emphasizing strong hues and tonal dynamics, drawing the viewer into a cityscape that resonates with the inner experience of her paintings’ figures. Accustomed to familiarizing herself with urban locales that can at first seem alienating, Fantuz defamiliarizes these noir, evening spaces in order to reveal their true nurturing potential. 

Fantuz illuminates the essential character of buildings and locations in historical and contemporary urban settings. She also reflects the figures’ uniqueness within a dense population, observing their connection and the stories that are all around us. These are bathed in light bouncing from the sheened street surface as much as from the buildings’ windows.

Fantuz’ pieces share attention to the beauty of everyday moments suspended in time. Her meditations on taking pause - both in life and in front of her canvases - are an invitation to the viewer to do the same.

If some artists consider their work to be a mirror of society, the artwork of Emilie Fantuz can be considered a magnifying glass held against the world around her. Born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Emilie began her work in the picturesque setting of Hawaii, where exquisite views to inspire never lack. Her work has evolved over time as her surroundings have, highlighting the beauty in everyday scenes.

I t was in Hawaii that Emilie learned the technique that would become her signature method — the use of palette knives. Her adoption of these tools would later spark the introduction between her husband Mike Fantuz, an artist who also utilizes palette knives. Today Emilie’s unique style is a seamless marriage between American realism and the Ashcan School, displaying cityscapes and urban views through a romantic framing that makes even the glow of a streetlamp tread the line between reality and dream. 

Her time spent living in different cities, from Kauai to Detroit, honed Emilie’s keen perception of beauty within even the most inconspicuous of details. It’s this observance of subtle scenes that creates the unmistakable imagery in Emilie’s work. She also finds inspiration from a variety of sources, from lighting, contrast, and emotions, to the quaint sight of a busy sidewalk. 

Her artwork has been exhibited in both the United States and Canada, including the popular annual exhibition, Bugs, Blooms, Beasts, held at the Scarab Club in Detroit. Her work has been awarded several times, from A l’Heure de Paris in Detroit, Michigan, and from the City of Howell Public Art Project in Howell, Michigan, and belongs in collections within the United States, Canada, Netherlands, Caymen Islands, and France. Emilie enjoys reenergizing herself while hiking in the Canadian mountains near her home in Vancouver, where she resides with her husband.