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Carmine Santaniello

Carmine Santaniello was born in Queens, New York in 1955 and has been painting since he could hold a brush. His formal education includes the High School of Art and Design and The School of Visual Arts, and he holds a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Just as influential as his formal training is the time he spent traveling in Mexico over a period of twelve years, painting and drawing throughout the country. "The surrealism of Mexico is so apparent that you cannot help but have all your creative energy heightened, " he explains.

His art does have a certain surreal aura, yet its not surreal. Indeed, there are a number of such apparent contradictions in his work and it is these contradictions that make his work so fascinating. His figures are both innocent and erotic, seeming to meander through the background of his work with the power and grace of the Italian Old Masters. Layers upon layers of paint evoke the look of the cracked and stained frescoes of Italy. Amorphous shapes appear from his scumbled and marred canvas surface, causing the figures to emerge and recede at the same time and creating an environment of intense emotion. It is these emotions swirling through his canvases that seems to be a special gift of the artist, and evident in all his works.

Santaniello's work appears in private and corporate collections in this country and abroad, including the personal collection of Sophia Loren. He has exhibited extensively in Mexico; recent local exhibits include The Gallery at Chelsea Eye, Leslie Lohman Virtual Art Gallery, BJ Spoke Gallery, The Catholic Museum of America, Ward-Nasse Gallery, Discovery Art Gallery, Sea Cliff Gallery and the Jamaica Art Center. Current work includes a series of portraiture and figurative collages, utilizing color Xerox transfer and mixed media.

He recently completed a series of oil paintings for his solo show at The Gallery at Chelsea Eye in New York City.