Jerry DiFalco, versatile visual artist, printmaker, and poet, dies at 69

Jerry DiFalco, 69, of Philadelphia, a prolific artist, printmaker, and photographer, who created a numerous assortment of what he identified as “visual poetry,” died Wednesday, Sept. 29, of lung ailment at Thomas Jefferson College Healthcare facility.

Devoted to children, learners, seniors, and many others who sought to express on their own through art and crafting, Mr. DiFalco most lately labored as an creative mentor to skilled artists and printmakers at the Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia.

Over his prolonged career as a painter, sculptor, printer, and poet, Mr. DiFalco established hundreds of his very own pieces, sold them in the United States and overseas, and showed his perform at hundreds of exhibitions and galleries.

His artworks, quite a few of which are 3-dimensional assemblages that characteristic vibrant colours and arresting illustrations or photos, may well be considered on numerous YouTube video clips and are accompanied by explanations of how he created them. He termed his early writing “surrealistic poetry” and was inspired in his visual art by architecture, historical past, religion, folklore, and ancient tradition.

He wrote in a quick on the web biography that he desired “viewers to see further than the regular into the extraordinary by way of scenes and objects from day-to-day knowledge.”

Absurdity was also 1 of his muses. The Final Rooster Meal is his rendition of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Previous Supper, and it depicts chickens at the desk as a substitute of people.

“Humor is the most crucial factor in my function,” Mr. DiFalco instructed The Inquirer in 1987. “It is just my response to developments in artwork currently being so staunchy.”

Irreverent, outspoken, and mental, as perfectly as resourceful and compassionate, Mr. DeFalco frequently connected his art to human emotion and behavior by what he referred to as “imagery and story line.”

“I imagine that artwork unveils anything that we mask behind our assumptions and biases … or somewhat, people realms we neglect — or refuse — to understand,” he wrote on his Saatchi Art webpage.

He worked for a time as a museum curator, and lectured university learners and artists about grant-composing, fund-increasing, and internet marketing. He was acknowledged in his youthful times for attending art shows in funky tuxedos and with spiky hair sprayed silver. He advised The Inquirer in 1992 that he needed to “leave some thing when I’m dead.”

“I want individuals 200, 300 decades from now to know who I was and what my assertion is,” he said. “I want to assistance evolve the human race through attractiveness. Or via anger. I want to leave a mark on the globe. So when I’m lifeless, portion of me is nevertheless there.”

Born Sept. 26, 1952, and raised in Camden, Mr. DiFalco earned a bachelor’s degree in visual great art at Rutgers College in 1974 and a master’s degree in arts administration at Drexel University in 1985. He lived and labored in San Diego, New York, and Madrid, Spain, right before settling in Philadelphia in the early 1970s.

For almost 40 several years, he suffered from — and created inspite of — continual ache thanks to degenerative disk condition, irregular irritation and nerve dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, and the result of solutions for follicular lymphoma and thyroid cancer.

“I’m constantly contemplating of how these variations in my overall body have contributed to my artwork,” he explained in a 2016 on the net job interview with the Einstein Healthcare Network.

He satisfied his husband or wife, Ron Funk, in the early 1970s, and together they appreciated tunes, crafting, and looking through.

“Jerry loved art in all its varieties,” Funk said. “Going to his studio was his everyday living. He was constantly so upbeat, and he required to make a variance in people’s lives.”

In addition to Funk, Mr. DiFalco is survived by other kin. A sister died previously.

A memorial services is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, 13 S. 38th St.

Donations in his name may well be produced to the art and music department of the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, 3717 Chestnut St., Suite 200, Philadelphia, Pa. 19104 and the Fleisher Artwork Memorial, 719 Catharine St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19147.