Lantomo, pseudonym of Antonella Montes, is an Italian artist based in Barcelona.
The passion for drawing, inherited from her mother, has been a constant in her life. She studied architecture in Italy, in Rome and Genoa; then moves to Spain, specializing in scenography and exhibition design. Just a few years ago, since 2010, Lantomo started to dedicate herself exclusively to painting, and her passion has definitely become a job. And in this journey, her stay of almost two years in Beijing, China, have left an indelible trace. Her drawings have become more accurate and detailed, her only colors the black and white, with touches of red, and the drawn faces have come to have Asian features.
Since then she has participated in several solo exhibitions, in galleries in Barcelona, and in Beijing; along with several international Art Fair and group exhibitions. Lantomo is represented now for the Gallery 3 Punts Gallery in Barcelona, Bat Alberto Cornejo in Madrid, Spain, and Retrospect Galleries in Byron Bay, Australia.
My work is part of the portrait genre, exploring its own limits.
It is a figurative work close to realism.
The content of my works is a reflection on the women´s role in society and their iconic representation in the art history and in the present.
I move on a boundary between painting and graphic design, with images suggested from the fashion and advertising world to the most classic art history. I like to combine seamless, semi-abstract color backgrounds with the detailed portrait.
Portrait presents a solitary and individual image, which dialogues with the viewer. My characters have neutral expressions, hard to penetrate, that don’t fully share their feelings. It is the external gaze that discovers the hidden secrets and the details of the women portrayed in reflexive and contradictory moments.
The intention is to reveal an internal storm, the inner psychology hidden behind stereotypes and social burdens, the fragility in dialogue with a female strength and rage that scratch the surface of my girls. I frequently hide the features portrayed with urban symbolism and childish and protest iconography, to symbolize the layer that often hides reality.