Artist Statement

I approach each new painting as a process and opportunity for discovery.

In my work multiple influences and ideas combine in a balance of competing energies. I begin with landscape, and memories of the landscape I grew up in – the varied geology of Eastern Pennsylvania. I bring to this my studies of painting and art history. Pulling inspiration from the energized canvases of the American Abstract Expressionists as well as the flat decorative painting of Japan’s Edo era.

I follow the forms of rocks, natural monuments, steles, and mounds. I abstract and flatten them, placing them as a central silhouette around which to build my paintings. I layer sweeping gestures, obsessive calligraphy, seeping stains of color, and the controlled chaos formed by the Japanese wet-on-wet technique known as tarashikomi. In equal parts exuberant quickness and measured slowness I carefully build objects of color, line, and form.

The American painter Brice Marden has talked of his paintings as “...sounding boards for the spirit.” The painting as a space of engagement that records the ideas and feelings – the spirit – of the painter.

This is very much how I feel about my own work. I may begin with natural forms, drawings, and observed imagery, but they are a source and not the subject. I embrace intuition and work through the process of painting to express both what I observe and what I experience. I engage the work in conversation, listening, talking, finding my way and letting the materials and ideas lead me to where the painting can go.

In each work I re-imagine natural shapes and the chaotic overwhelm of contemporary life as a beginning point for meditative calm. I mix these various inspirations and ideas to create a whole. Pulling strings of thought together to become an object.

I don’t try to resist chaos, but instead take it in, rework it, and make of it something new. The painting continues until the conversation with my materials slows, and a meditative moment emerges.

What remains is the full exertion of my spirt. The painting becomes an object, a marker, a container of impressions and memories. They are monuments to experience, feelings, and the possibilities of life lived – icons of the spirit, the landscape, and the self.

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Artist Biography

Andrew Conti is a painter living and working in Pennsylvania. He has exhibited throughout both the United States and Japan. This includes a solo exhibition of his work on the historic temple grounds of the Buddhist temple Zuisho-Ji in the Shirokanedai section of Tokyo. His work is now held in the permanent collection of the temple.

Andrew received his BFA in painting from Parsons School of Design and continued his studies at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan. A long time resident of Japan, Andrew returned to the United States in 2009 and currently lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

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Education

2002
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
BFA, Painting

2000
Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan

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Awards & Honors

2017
New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
Honorable Mention, Salon

2015
New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
Honorable Mention, Salon

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Bibliography

2020
"Artists in the Age of Coronavirus, Vol. 27", Artblog.org, May 7

2015
"Abstract works dominate New Hope Arts Center Members' Exhibit", The Intelligencer, September 1

2008
Wingert, Bridget, "Bucks Native to Open Show in Tokyo," Bucks County Herald, October 30

Snow, Jean, "Puzzles by Andrew Conti," JeanSnow.net, August 30

Collections

Public

Zuisho-Ji Temple, Shirokanedai, Tokyo, Japan

Exhibitions

Solo

Andrew Conti, Park Towne Place Artist Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Body - Phenotype - Landscape, Zuisho-ji Temple, Shirokanedai, Tokyo, Japan‍

Connections and Combinations, Pause, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

Group‍

2021
Up Against a Wall, Awbury Arboretum, Germantown, PA

New Now IV, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Spring Salon, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA

2020
Galleries at Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia, PA

CFEVA Member Show, Philadelphia, PA

Embrace the Past, Celebrate the Present, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA

Congruence: I Like Your Work Podcast Summer Exhibition, Online Exhibition
Juror: Bridgette Mayer

Art Colony, New Hope Arts Center, Online Exhibition

Abington Arts Center Summer Group Show, Abington Arts Center, Jenkintown, PA

2019
New Hope Arts Salon, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA

EZ2Steal, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA

8th Annual Juried Show, Artists of Yardley, Yardley, PA

30th Annual Invitational Small Work Salon, New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA

2017
6th Annual Juried Show, Artists of Yardley, Yardley, PA

2016
Internal Color, URBN Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Members Salon, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA

Small Work Salon Show, New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA

5th Annual Juried Show, Artists of Yardley, Yardley, PA

Annual Juried Exhibition, Gallery 128, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA