Lantomo, pseudonym of Antonella Montes, is an Italian artist based in Barcelona.

The passion for drawing, inherited from her mother, has been a constant in her life. She studied architecture in Rome, then moved to Spain, following her studies in scenography and exhibition design. Since 2010, Lantomo has dedicated herself exclusively to painting, and her passion has definitely become a job. And in this journey, her stay of almost two years in Beijing, China, have left an indelible trace.

Lantomo’s work falls within the portrait genre, exploring its own limits. It is a figurative work close to realism. The content of her works is a reflection on the women’s role in society and their iconic representation in art history and in the present. She enjoys combining seamless, semi-abstract color backgrounds with the hyper- detailed portrait.

Her characters have neutral expressions, hard to penetrate, that don’t fully share their feelings. The intention is to reveal an internal storm, the inner psychology hidden behind stereotypes and social burdens, the fragility in dialogue with a female strength and rage that scratch the surface of her subjects. She hides the features portrayed with urban symbolism and childish and protest iconography, to symbolize the layer that often hides reality.

The medium she uses is graphite, to create grayscale images supported with touches of color and uniform background, in strong colors or total black Lantomo is represented now for the Gallery Bat Alberto Cornejo in Madrid, 3 Punts Gallery in Barcelona,Spain, and Retrospect Galleries in Byron Bay, Australia