Tristan Tondino

Tristan Tondino (born July 3, 1961) is a Canadian film art director and artist living in Montreal, Quebec.
Biography
Tristan Tondino was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1961. He is the son of painter Gentile Tondino and Livia Martucci, brother of Guido and Lisa Tondino, is married to Joséane Brunelle, and is the cousin of Richard Monette. Tondino has also worked as a charge scenic artist, art director and screenwriter.
Artist
Tondino, considers his work as a visual artist to be a form of irrealism.
One of Tondino's canvasses, consisting entirely of text, questions why entire societies ignore certain realities: "On any given day, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 35,600 children die of starvation. This tragedy does not make the six o’clock news. Approximately 13 million children die of starvation every year, never making it to OUR reality." (...) "When we are told to deal with reality, we are essentially being told to accept an ideology."
“(Reality) must be created, opening one's own universe (...) to other realities, enlarging the concept of human rights (...)."
Tondino is listed in "Artists in Canada, a Union list of Artists’ Files" at the National Gallery of Canada Library, Canadian Heritage.
Notable works
On February 2, 2002, Tondino created a painting representing a Canadian 5-dollar bill (featuring the kingfisher) with the serial number ANR2312049 that he titled Where Is It?. The painting included the statement "I spent this 5 Dollar Bill on Feb 02 2002." Tondino then began to hang posters offering a $1000 reward to the person who found the bill. The story was picked up by The Montreal Gazette's Bill Brownstein, The Suburban's Bernie Mendelman, The Hour, CBC radio and Raymond Saint-Pierre of Radio Canada.
Exhibitions
Tondino has had over 50 exhibitions nationally and internationally.
* Irreality (2001)
* Irrealite (2004)
* Salón de la Plástica Mexicana (2008)
* Evoke/Icon (2009)
* eSpaces Temps (2010)
Film
Tondino was the art director for Someone is Watching. He has worked on over 150 film and theatre productions, including Le Confessional, Jesus de Montreal, The Whole Nine Yards, and Where the Money Is.
Tondino co-authored and co-directed a short film about World War 1 titled Crainte et tremblement, which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2012. Crainte et tremblement was available on Radio Canada's website ici.tou.tv from 2012 until 2015.
Collections
His work was refused by The National Gallery of Canada, Musée d’art Contemporian de Montreal, the MOMA and The Metropolitan Museum as part of an artwork entitled "The Refused".
His work can be found in the collections of Air Canada, The Royal Bank of Canada, Pratt and Whitney, Reader's Digest, Brasserie McAuslan Brewing, Richard Monette, Casa Italia, Paul Kastel, Amel Chamandy, and Gilden Inc.
Education and affiliations
Tondino received his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy at McGill University in 1985 and his MA in philosophy at University of Montreal.
He is a member of Montreal Film Group, La Raza Group, SARTEC, IATSE and AQTIS.
Philosophy
As a philosopher, Tondino is predominantly influenced by Noam Chomsky, Norbert Hornstein, and James McGilvray.

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