Artist Statement

I work to become more in contact with the spirit of creative energy that moves in and out of all living things. It's actually a mystery to me, but the work, and sharing it with others, does bring me closer to that unknown. I try to work every day so that this spirit stays around. I feel that Art is a form of communication, imprecise about what it is communicating because it taps into a universe outside of our everyday experience, if it does communicate. I draw and paint things that surround me, and I transform them to make the painting or drawing. Images I use are really anything that sticks with me. I've been inspired by ancient frescoes in Mexico, Pompeii, and in books, Chinese scroll paintings, and Persian miniatures, and also by the marks of time in living rock, the post-industrial wastelands that reflect the decadence of the society in which I live and work. I'm also inspired by other strange particulars that mark time, like an abandoned ferryboat half sunk in the river by my house.

I travel a lot to keep my eyes open. I fill books, papers, and canvases on my journeys: it's an integral part of my work. I translate the images later in my studio. Images are stories that I tell to myself; and I often try to discover the landscapes as I make them, to start with a fragment (or just a smudge) and develop it into something that intrigues me. Sometimes I start with one layer and build over that, like an old drawing or a portrait of a stone, then work an image on top to find the counterpoint that moves between the contrasting thoughts. Drawing has always been the source of my art. It sometimes clears a passage to the unknown. It has the potential to bring forth the images like a spring, to bring out from within story lines and associations that often surprise me.

Paul Santoleri, 2004

EDUCATION:
1991 - M.F.A, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
- Skowhegan School of Painting Sculpture and Fresco, Skowhegan, ME
 1987 - B.F.A., Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA./ Rome, Italy

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2008 – Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
- Mural Arts, Thomas Eakins House, Philadelphia PA
2006 - Art Center of the Capital Region, President’s Gallery, Troy, NY
2005-6 – Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2005 - Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2003 - Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2000-01 - Philadelphia Art Alliance, Rittenhouse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2000 - Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, "Window on Broad", Philadelphia. PA
- Spector Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1998 - Gallerie Nouveau, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1997 - Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
1996 - Esther Klein Gallery, U.C. Science Center, Philadelphia, PA.
1995 - Schuylkill County Council on the Arts, Pottsville, PA
1990 - Centennial Concert Hall, Tucson, AZ.
1989 - Le Coquelet Gallery, Berkeley, CA <
- El Vesuvio Gallery, San Francisco, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2007 – “Recycled”, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2006 - Genesis 2006, Gothenburg, Sweden (symphonic Production w/Gui Mallon)
- Galerie Gora, Montreal, Canada
- Takatsuki City Theatre, Takatsuki City Exhibition, Takatsuki, Japan
- Galleria La Cadrega, Milano, Italy
- Philadelphia Foundation Gallery, From the Walls to the Boards, Philadelphia, PA
- Philadelphia Art Alliance, “Outside/In”, Philadelphia, PA
- FUEL Collection, Philadelphia, PA
- Nova Art Fair, Projects Gallery, Chicago, IL
- Galeria Fort: MiniPrint 26th International, Cadaques, Spain – traveling exhibit to Bages, France and East Sussex, U.K.
- Yerselim Gallery, Istanbul, Turkey
- “Black and White”, Projects Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2005 - Visual Aids, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
- Annotazioni d’Arte, Milano, Italy
- Galeria Aunkan, Barcelona, Spain
2004 - Hyder Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, “Between the Lines”, “ Hanging Gardens”, “Spirits seen and not”
- Spector Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, “ReMasters” (also 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003)
2003 - Pennsylvania State Museum , "What's New and Black and White", Harrisburg, PA
2002 - Philadelphia Foundation,"30 x 30", Philadelphia, PA
- Thomas Eakins House, " Philadelphia Muralists", Philadelphia, PA
2001 - Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, “Obsessive Drawing", Wilmington, DE
2000 - US Embassy, Damascus, Syria, " 3 AM"
- Fleisher Art Memorial, “Wall Power”, Philadelphia, PA (also 1998, 1997, 1994)
1998 - David Beitzel Gallery, New York, NY
- PA State Museum, “Art of the State”, Harrisburg, PA (also 1995, 1996) 
- Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA, “Family Realities” (also 1995, 1994)
- Nexus, Philadelphia, PA (also 1994)
1997 - Altos de Chavon Gallery, La Romana, Dominican Republic (also 1994)
- New Parsons’ Gallery, New York, NY, “20 Years of Altos de Chavon”
- Curcio-Spector, New York, NY
1996 - Optimus, Chicago, IL, “Facelift”
- Baxter Gallery, Portland College of Art , Portland, ME, "Skowhegan at 50"
1995 - Stifel Fine Arts Center, "Landscape -10 Points of View"; Wheeling, WV
- 479 Gallery, New York, NY
1994 - Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1992 - ICA, "Grant Recipients"; Philadelphia, PA
- Ward-Nasse Gallery, "The Print"; New York, NY
1990 - Mezzanine Gallery, The Banff Center, "3 Resident Artists", Alberta, Canada

AWARDS:
2004 - Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowship
2003 & 2001 - S.O.S. Stipend, PA Council on the Arts
2002 - Independence Foundation, Philadelphia, PA; Visual Arts Fellowship
2000 - Brandywine Workshop, Support Grant, Philadelphia, PA
1998 - Fundacion Valparaiso, Support Grant/ Residency, Mojacar Playa, Spain
- MacDowell Fellowship, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1997 & 1994 - Residency Fellowship, Fundacion Cultural de Altos de Chavon, La Romana, Dominican Republic
1993 - Assistantship in fresco, Skowhegan Art School, Skowhegan, ME
1992 - Residency, Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, CA
- Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Visual Arts Fellowship
- MacDowell Fellowship, MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH
1991 - Scholarship, Skowhegan Art School, Maine
1990 - Fellowship & Residency, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada

COLLECTIONS:
Altos de Chavon, La Romana, Dominican Republic
Fundacion Valparaiso, Mojacar, Spain
McDonald's, King of Prussia, PA
Moorfeed Corporation, Indianapolis, IN
Pennsylvania State Museum, Harrisburg, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Reading Anthracite, Pottsville, PA
Standard & Poor' s, New York, NY

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
"The Murals Of Philadelphia and the Stories They Tell", Temple University Press, 2002, by Jane Golden and Robin Rice
Nozone Magazine, #9, New York, NY (graphic short story) 9/95
Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine (short story) 9/94
Ergo Magazine, Scranton, PA (Monthly Comic Strip) 1993-1994

COMMISSIONS:
2004 - Univ. of Pennsylvania , WXPN/ World Cafe Live; 2 part murals at radio tation/concert hall
2003 - Rohm and Haas Inc., Philadelphia Corporate Offices
- Independence Mall - mural commission
2002 - Philadelphia Zoo, mural/mosaic commission
2000 - Philadelphia Fringe Festival, mural commission
1999 - Sunoco/Philadelphia Tourist Commission/ MAP, Oil Tank Mural (9,000 sq. ft.), Phila., PA
- Latin American Community Center, exterior mural mosaic, Wilmington, DE
- Library at Historic Yellow Springs, fresco, Chester Springs, PA
1998 - Casa del Mar, Bayahibe, 144 x 2m mural, Dominican Republic
1997-1999 - Philadelphia Museum of Art, Dept. of Education, Artist in Residence to create 3 public murals, Philadelphia, PA
1997-2004 - City of Philadelphia, Mural Arts Project, 15 public mural commissions