The UB Post

If one could paint air, what would it look like? Michael Diliberto, a Baltimore-based artist and graphic designer, tries to answer that question in his show of landscape paintings at the University of Baltimore Student Center Gallery on the fifth floor. The exhibition will continue through March 17.

"I've always been fascinated and loved where sky meets land and water. The beauty of that phenomenon fascinates me…it's a look, a feeling of atmosphere," said Diliberto, an artist for over 30 years, who has exhibited his work in the region for 12 years. "If I could paint air, I would paint it, so I paint a lot of mist and fog."

Diliberto, a native of New York City, graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 1976. He met and married his wife Susan while attending MICA. After graduation, he stayed in Baltimore and eventually opened his own advertising and interactive communications firm, Diliberto, Inc.

For Diliberto, painting is a form of stress relief.

"It's a way of getting away from cell phones; it's a way of getting away from e-mail," he said. "It's just paint on canvas. It's hundreds and hundreds of years old and there is something very basic and very pure about that."

Diliberto prefers to paint scenes that are familiar to him. The Loch Raven Reservoir near his home in Glen Arm, Md., is one of his favorite inspirations. He doesn't paint on location; instead, he takes photos of the locales and paints his impressions in his home studio. He produces 20 to 30 paintings a year.

Diliberto's paintings play with the unseen.

"Things aren't always crisp and clear to the eye. They may appear that way, but they're really not," he said. "I'm always trying to achieve that sense of space, and that there are layers of atmosphere between you and that object."

Two of Dilberto's favorite pieces are featured in the exhibition: "Susquehanna" and "Deep River."

"I really love 'Susquehanna,' just because of its expansive distance. It's a location that I know pretty well. If anyone has traveled from Baltimore up 95 across the Susquehanna River towards Delaware…they'll know this view," he said.

"Deep River" stands out because of its bold use of yellow and red.

"I really do love 'Deep River' because it's a departure in color palate from some of my other work," he said. "It really catches your eye. It's a quiet scene, but it's not as quiet as some of the other works."

All the pieces featured in the exhibit are on sale; prices range from $1,400 to $4,500. In addition to the exhibition on campus, he also owns Diliberto Gallery in Fells Point where his paintings are shown. His wife's artwork—jewelry, sculptural metalwork and paintings—is also featured.

Diliberto is especially pleased with the landscapes being shown at the Student Center.

"The ones that are here on display I think are a really good representation of what I'm doing now," Diliberto said.

Sheppard, managing editor of The UB Post, can be reached at christine.sheppard@ubalt.edu.

Diliberto Gallery
1922 Fleet St.
Baltimore, MD 21231
phone–410.299.6508

Article Tools