Biography
Contemporary Realist Painter
About Joseph George Runza
Joseph George Runza is a Fort Lauderdale artist, working primarily in oils, with a style that can best be described as Contemporary Realism. His interest in the graphic arts began at an early age, working in various mediums including charcoal, watercolor, pastel and his main interest, oils.
Runza continued to perfect his skills throughout his teen and college years. In one of his early achievements, he was singled out to paint a portrait of ‘the old school’ as a gift to St. John’s College from the Class of 1954. Runza dedicated the years following college to military service, and then to a career in the business community, developing and managing Design Departments and a Paper Company, working with graphic artists from the USA and Europe.
For the past 30 years, Runza has been devoted to painting, exhibiting a strong interest in portrait work, which has evolved from the painting of individuals to gatherings of diverse groups of people in everyday life situations, from casual to more intense settings. In 2009, his painting, “Dawn Prayer,” received the “Best in Show” award at the Pembrooke Pines 5th Annual Art competition.
For the past 30 years, Runza has been devoted to painting, exhibiting a strong interest in portrait work, which has evolved from the painting of individuals to gatherings of diverse groups of people in everyday life situations, from casual to more intense settings. In 2009, his painting, “Dawn Prayer,” received the “Best in Show” award at the Pembrooke Pines 5th Annual Art competition.
Runza’s work covers a broad array of subjects including landscapes, seascapes and still life, while continuing to use people in diverse situations. Although his work can best be described as realism, Runza’s paintings reflects the feeling or emotion he interprets from his subject and expresses this through his choice of scene, expression and gesture in his work.
