Rob Gonsalves :: Magic Realism

Artist Rob Gonsalves was born in Toronto, Canada in 1959. During his childhood, he developed an interest in drawing from imagination using various media. By age twelve, his awareness of architecture grew as he leaned perspective techniques and began to do his first paintings and renderings of imagined buildings.

After an introduction to the Artists Dali and Tanguy, Rob began his first surrealist paintings. Soon the "Magic Realism" approach of Magritte along with the precise perspective illusions of Escher came to be influences in his work.

In his post college years, Rob worked full time as an architect, also painting trompe l'oeil murals and theatre sets. After an enthusiastic response in 1990 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Rob devoted himself to painting full time.

Although Rob's work is often categorized as surrealistic, it differs due to the fact that the images are deliberately planned and result from conscious thought. Ideas are largely generated by the external world and involve recognizable human activities, using carefully planned illusionist devices. Rob injects a sense of magic into realistic scenes. As a result, the term "Magic Realism" describes his work accurately. His work is an attempt to represent human beings desire to believe in the impossible.

Numerous individuals around the world, corporations, embassies, and a United States Senator collect Rob's original work, and limited edition prints. He has exhibited at Art Expo New York and Los Angeles, Decor Atlanta and Las Vegas, Fine Art Forum, as well as one-man shows at Discovery Galleries, Ltd., Hudson River Art Gallery, and Kaleidoscope Gallery.

In June 2003, Simon and Schuster introduced North America and Canada to Imagine a Night, Rob's first hardcover book featuring sixteen paintings. Due to it's success, they released Imagine a Day in 2005, followed by Imagine a Place in 2008.

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