Vanessa Cunto is a St. Petersburg-based visual artist specializing in detailed graphite drawings. A first-generation American with roots in Italy and Venezuela, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Florida and went on to build a 15-year career as an art director and stylist — experience that deeply informs both the precision and compositional rigor of her fine art practice and her conceptual approach to the ideas behind it.

Her work investigates the relationship between human-built systems and the natural world, tracing a through line from the symbolic vocabulary of Dutch Still Life painting to her current series of graphite drawings that envision an ethical digital future through the lens of Y2K Futurism. Her largely self-taught technique that has developed through years of working with graphite powder, specialized papers, and original references, brings a rare depth and tactility to each piece.

Vanessa has exhibited widely, with gallery showings across Florida and beyond. She was named a 2024 Emerging Artist Grant recipient by Creative Pinellas and has called St. Petersburg home since 2019.