Christopher Castelli

I grew up near Washington Square in the time when painters Milton Avery and Edward Hopper were Greenwich Village residents, and when rents were low enough to allow small uncompromising art galleries to flourish. I would make frequent trips to the major New York art museums with my father, who was an artist and illustrator. Although I did not realize it at the time, this exposure to great art was the foundation of my art education at Cooper Union School of Art, where I studied with the realist painter Jack Beal and painter/sculptor Sol Lewitt. My landscapes may depict the floodplain of the Connecticut River, the rolling hills of Missouri, the coast of Maine or the subtle atmosphere illuminating the hills of Italy. Whatever the topography, I endeavor to explore the land's unspoken dignity. My still lifes are usually small icons of ordinary items illuminated by a single light source. I carefully study (and hopefully convey) the subtlety of shadow and reflection that enliven the rendering. Each composition invites the patient viewer to contemplate both the painted surface and the illusion of space.