PENCHANT FOR THE PAST
It was a big decision to actually go to university for fine arts knowing that career prospects were slim.
The artist:
Marc Adornato
His media:
Antiques, Canadian currency and organic materials such as antlers, furs, bones and wood.
His studio:
A spacious basement studio and twovehicle garage dedicated to creating art. Stepping into vintage collector Marc Adornato’s home studio is like stepping back in time. There are radios of all shapes and sizes, restored record players and gramophones from the 1900s and a diverse assortment of cameras that almost trace the historical evolution of photography. Adornato, who grew up in Kanata, lives with his wife in a home near Gatineau Park. He’s been known to give the curious a tour of his 1,400 square foot studio space where he works and which houses his collections and art installations. His art and antiques are generally sold through Union 613 and Railbender Studio in Ottawa. While he works full time in the field of broadcasting and television, Adornato enjoys returning home to immerse himself in his artwork. He has a penchant for integrating political ideology into his pieces, including a series called Blowup Dolls, which features porcelain antique baby dolls with dynamite strapped to their chests as a comment on violence throughout the world. His Hunting Dissent series fuses mounted antlers with gas masks — a message about offering hunted animals a second life as environmental protesters. Progress Derailed features 1950s toy trains falling off of their tracks from mounted wood-panelled canvases to symbolize how human progress has been somewhat derailed. He is also commenting on the increase in train derailments in Canada and the United States. Adornato (Adornato.com) graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax with his master’s degree in fine arts. “It was a big decision to actually go to university for fine arts knowing that career prospects were slim,” he says. “But honing my creative skills proved to be a good decision and I was able to get a full-time job in video production and still pursue an arts career as well.”