Jeremy Caniglia


Jeremy Caniglia is an American figurative painter and illustrator, primarily in fantasy and horror genres. He has done book and magazine illustration, conceptual artwork, book and album covers, and comic books, and his work is in several important public collections including the Joslyn Art Museum and Iowa State University. His art has also been shown at the Society of Illustrators' Museum of Illustration.

Early life and education

Jeremy Caniglia was born July 13, 1970 in Omaha, Nebraska. He went to Creighton Preparatory School, where he was first introduced to art.
He studied traditional classical painting at Iowa State University, receiving a B.F.A. in Drawing, Painting and Printmaking in 1993. After graduation he studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland under well-known abstract expressionist painter, Grace Hartigan. He received his M.F.A. from MICA in 1995.
In 2017, Caniglia apprenticed and studied with the figurative artist Odd Nerdrum.

Work

In addition to Hartigan, whom he cites as "bringing new insight to his work," Caniglia was also influenced by the Old Masters including Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio.
Caniglia's art has been featured in the Washington Post and on CNN. He has created book covers for well-known mainstream authors and he has done cover art and illustrations for a number of noted horror and fantasy writers including Ed Lee and Charlee Jacob. His work has also appeared in Entertainment and horror magazines such as Rue Morgue magazine, Variety, Fangoria magazine, Flesh and Blood, and Cemetery Dance.
Caniglia has also created artwork for public institutions and churches. In 2009 he created a religious icon of Saint Lucy for St. Francis Cabrini Church located in Little Italy, in Nebraska.
In 2013 Lonely Road Books published a special limited edition of The Exorcist: The 40th Anniversary Revised Edition by William Peter Blatty. The new, updated edition featured new and revised material that Blatty had left out of the original book. Lonely Road Books and William Peter Blatty brought in Caniglia to create all new cover and interior artwork for this special edition. Caniglia worked with Warner Home Video creating artwork for the film documentary on William Peter Blatty and the creation of The Exorcist directed by Laurent Bouzereau.
In 2013 Cemetery Dance published a new limited Edition of World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. Caniglia created all new artwork cover for this special release to coincide with the film release of World War Z. In the fall of 2013 he completed Easton Press' 170th anniversary edition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In the fall of 2016 he completed the Easton Press' limited artist edition of O.Henry' short stories.
In 2017, Caniglia left Omaha to apprentice with the Norwegian figurative painter Odd Nerdrum. His print "Dreaming of Rembrandt" won an award in the Salmagundi Club's SCNY Monotype Exhibition in 2018. In 2020, David Weiss directed a documentary short film about Caniglia's life and work. This documentary was selected for Nebraska short films encore screening at the 2020 Omaha Film Festival.

Awards

Caniglia was nominated first in 2003 for the International Horror Guild Award for best artist in dark fantasy and horror and then again in 2004, this time winning the prestigious award. In 2005 he was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for Best Artist in Fantasy. In 2015 Caniglia received the prestigious Design Achievement Award from the College of Design at Iowa State University.

Art books