Biography

It was the allure of the majestic billfish, a decorative sailfish mount at Coney Island that Pasta Pantaleo remembers as a young child as being his first inspiration that drew him into the world of marine gamefish and their habitats. His fascination with the subject began as he used his inherent creative talent to illustrate the iconic fish in his childhood drawings despite a lack of exposure to nature that characterized the culture of his inner-city Brooklyn life. To Pasta, as to many, the sea represented an escape from what he saw was a dismal way of urban life. The ocean, and its fascinating inhabitants, was an attractive alternative that offered a life of adventure in a wild and bountiful environment. Desperate to leave behind the dreary cold grey winters of the north, Pasta was instrumental in convincing his family to migrate to South Florida in 1970, the perennial land of sun and fun.

Sailsforce

Ten years earlier when Pasta (Roberto Pantaleo) was two years old, his family immigrated to America from Italy in search of a better life. Moving to the land of opportunity, though, was not an easy transition for the family and his parents eventually divorced. The move to South Florida offered a fresh start. Pasta and his brother Nick, who was actually the first to be called ‘Pasta’ by his new Florida friends, adapted quickly. With his thick Italian accent and broken English, Nick was a die-hard representative of Italy because he loved to boast of the greatness of his birthplace, specifically the superiority of Italian made sports cars. It was a natural evolution for his new American friends to shorten his difficult to pronounce name of Pantaleo to Pasta, a familiar Italian word that everyone could remember. When Roberto was 16 he bought his first motorcycle and began to tag along with his older brother Nick and his friends. He became known as Pasta Junior to his brother’s friends and soon his own circle of friends began simply calling him Pasta, a fitting family ‘nick’ name.

During his teenage years, Pasta and his friends enjoyed motorcycles, hot rods and most of all the challenge of customizing their rides. Pasta’s friend, Victor, was the first to implore him to pinstripe his newly customized van. Pasta was reluctant, at first, to take paint to a friend’s vehicle, but that trepidation was short lived. Pasta realized the demand for custom painted vehicles and taught himself how to use an airbrush. By the late seventies, Pasta had become a world-class airbrush artist who was commissioned to custom paint vehicles of all kinds for some of South Florida’s most eccentric characters who enjoyed the lavish Miami Vice lifestyle of the era.

Despite being surrounded by clients living a glamorous lifestyle, Pasta remained down to Earth and he found his favorite pastime to be boating and fishing, an activity he pursued often. Ironically, Pasta did not truly connect his love of fishing with his God given artistic talent until the dawn of the new millennium. Although he used his graphic art creativity to produce a line of one color Fish This! decals in the 1990’s, he had not applied his ability to paint fishing scenes, despite the rising popularity of T-shirts featuring illustrated images of marlins, sailfish and dolphin.

Jamie Bunn of Bluewater Movements wanted to improve upon the image branding of his professional fishing tournament series and he requested Pasta to create a painting on canvas that would be used as a commemorative poster and tournament T-shirt design. That request, much like the one from Pasta’s teen age friend to pinstripe for the first time, became a catalyst for a life changing career move. “Everybody is Gonna Be There” is the name of that first painting that appeared as a poster for the Pompano Beach Mercury/Sea Vee Saltwater Slam. The image struck a chord with the fishing public and the Reel Life Art phone began to ring with requests to learn about the yet to be recognized marine artist who created it.

That first painting was created in 2001 and now, five years later, Pasta Pantaleo has numerous accolades to his name including the prestigious title of 2006 Rolex/IGFA Inshore Artist of the Year. He also redesigned the logo for the event.

He has entered into a licensing agreement with Hook and Tackle who will use his game fish art on their popular fishing apparel. Pasta is delighted with the success he is experiencing with his marine life paintings and he is eager to continue to grow as an artist and develop a truly unique style.

Fresh Mahi	You're Dreaming	Aim High

Pasta says, “After painting gamefish for several years, I realize I feel better when I paint in a “mood style” instead of trying to paint fish in a pose so to speak. I loosened up and went for strokes and color with more dynamic layouts that you see in two of my latest paintings, “Fresh Mahi” and “Aim High.” “Sailsforce”, which is a canvas painting eight feet wide and four feet high, was the first painting that I explored large, loose brush strokes. In “Keys to Life,” the inspiration came from the intriguing patterns of the mangrove banks that line the inshore channels of the Keys. This panoramic view of mangroves above and below the water line moved the direction of my art away from strictly gamefish. The creation of Keys to Life caused such a positive feeling that I have already begun painting a new scene featuring a mangrove tree, which has a vertical orientation.

My first painting in 2001 for the Saltwater Slam tournament was a depiction of a group of fish that were the eligible species in a fishing tournament. Even though that painting has been very popular, I did not paint another image with a variety of “meat” fish until 2005. That painting, “Your’re Dreaming,” has also become a popular print, especially among tournament anglers.

Lunar Landing

It is fortunate that collectors have responded to my style of painting by purchasing my work. I truly believe we should do what we are good at and use some of that to help our environment. For that reason, I donate a number of original paintings to be auctioned off to benefit the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), the International Game Fish Association and IFACT, a conservation trust that exists to support and encourage conservation projects, including but not limited to the protecting, preserving and restoring of water quality, flats, marine life, seagrass, reefs and mangroves surrounding Monroe County, Florida.

Coastal Cruisers

If we can take a journey and help a little along the way, it will make a difference in the world. The collectors that share my passion for art, the ocean, and helping others just make my life as an artist that much more rewarding.