Anthony Papini

ARTIST STATEMENT

I paint because I appreciate the challenge of recreating scenes that we have all lived. Through layers of paint, I strive to create a depth of both space and emotion. From a young age, I was taken in by the magic of turning a two-dimensional surface into a window to another world. My goal is to enable viewers to look through that window, and generate their own unique visions.

The process begins with a loose idea of what I want to communicate. Then, I dismantle and reconstruct an image until I become intimately familiar with the concept. That way, once I start painting, the work organically evolves from the original idea. It is not uncommon for the finished painting to deviate significantly from my initial plan, but it could not exist without that first idea.

 My paintings represent my feelings on modernity—filled with positives and negatives. I believe us humans are very creative and beautiful, but we also have the capacity to be destructive and grotesque. And even though my paintings depict some disorder, they also convey hope.