Anna Cangialosi’s intriguing mix of nineteen fifties design aesthetics and color palettes and delicate, gamine females merge to create an air of chic hipness. Working on both canvas and wood and deftly integrating papers and tissues into the collage, she creates enticing portraits of lithe female figures in stylized poses and gauzy frozen moments. “My work is figurative and linear, inspired by the exaggerations of fashion illustration,” the artist says.

Indeed, Cangialosi’s background in fashion design and Japanese studies are evident in these evocative pieces. She combines what we recognize as high-fashion compositions with the look and feel of weathered, antique Asian prints. The illustration and collage techniques are further enhanced by the inclusion of Japanese characters, transfers, dots, and scratches. From such a foundation, Cangialosi explores a luxurious state of mind in which daintily clad figures are caught in repose or captured unaware in moments of deep contemplation.

Detroit’s CPOP Gallery has said, “Viewing [Cangialosi’s] pieces side by side is like flipping through pages of a 1950s Vogue magazine. Retro is back and she captures it perfectly by depicting women as fashion icons in playful and peculiar poses.”

Cangialosi studied in Nagoya, Japan; the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles; and the Center for Creative Studies. Having been featured in numerous solo and group shows (twelve in two years) in New York City, Detroit, San Francisco, and Tampa, her most recent exhibit (August 2002) was a solo exhibition titled “New Works” at MTV Studios in Times Square, New York. Cangialosi’s illustration work is in high demand, and her clients include Ford Motor Company, J. Walter Thompson, Nylon magazine, Loyal magazine, Doner Advertising, The Metro Times, and The Big Idea.