Gnoli

Domenico Gnoli

• Born in Rome in 1933 to an art historian father and artist mother, Gnoli had already gained recognition as an illustrator for Sports Illustrated, Fortune and other well-regarded magazines by the time he’d reached his early 20s. Although he had almost no formal training, he had been exhibiting his unique, oversized, yet focused, works by age 18. His vision was eclipsed much too early, however, when he died of cancer at age 36.
• If I were to give a label to Gnoli's work I would call if surrealistic naturalism, because of his blend of natural elements such as animals and his scrupulous attention to observed objects. Then there is the way these things are combined to form some imaginary creature existing on some plane of space you could almost call reality. 

Source:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/arts/design/domenico-gnoli-paintings-1964-1969-at-luxembourg-dayan.html?_r=0