Australian Story

Art of the Possible (24x29)

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Award-winning Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo doesn’t hold with the idea of the starving artist. Instead, he's made a spectacular life for himself despite leaving school at 13 barely able to read or write. His teenage years were spent working menial jobs and dabbling in petty crime until his boxing coach encouraged him to follow his passion for art. When he was outed for plagiarism at art school, his trouble with words was finally diagnosed as dyslexia. After successfully completing his fine arts degree he forged a successful career as one of Australia’s best known portrait artists. Heath Ledger, Julia Gillard, Baz Luhrmann and wife Asher Keddie are some of his high-profile subjects. Today Vincent no longer sees his dyslexia as a disability. Instead he calls it the gift that allows him to see the world and his subjects from a different perspective.