John P. D'Antonio

Born in Trenton, New Jersey, John Paul D’Antonio is considered by some in the art world to be a leading representational artist in America today. His paintings reveal a remarkable eye for the telling detail united with a facility for composition, color, and light. The precision and clarity of his diverse scapes lend immediacy and impact to his paintings while capturing the energy and mystery of his subjects. D ’Antonio’s eye is the product of his schooling— the Hun School of Princeton, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Lehigh University, and the Art Students League of New York. His art and philosophy have been shaped by influences as diverse as Academicism and the Photorealist painters of the 1970s.

Early in his career D’Antonio was exposed to some of the most prominent artists of the modern era, some of whom had a hand in shaping his attitude, point of view, and philosophy on creativity. For example, at the Hun School in 1970 he was introduced to a classmate’s father, Roy Lichtenstein, whose name is synonymous with Pop Art. From Lichtenstein he immediately got a sense that ordinary subjects could be interpreted in an extraordinary way.

At RISD the following year he was exposed to the techniques of the noted graphic designer Richard Merkin, who appears on Peter Blake’s 1967 Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover. It was also at RISD that D’Antonio met Louise Nevelson, the pioneer of environmental sculpture in America in the 20th Century, when she visited his classroom to weigh in on instruction. Nevelson left a lasting impression on the young student— that scale could be manipulated to affect an aura of mystery in a work of art— an idea that captivated him and captured the public imagination ever after.

It was also at RISD that D’Antonio came to paint with classmate David Savage, the grandson of Man Ray, the Dadaist creator of Surrealist photography. After seeing a private collection of Man Ray’s camera-less photographs from the 1920s and 1930s, D’Antonio was immediately struck by the master’s lack of concern with all things traditional and the academic notion of craft. After graduating in 1976 from Lehigh University D’Antonio attended the Art Students League of New York, studying under Xavier Gonzales, who was a leading instructor known as much for his large murals as for mentoring students like Jackson Pollack and Leroy Neiman. D’Antonio has exhibited widely throughout the United States, and his work can be found in numerous private collections.

LANDSCAPES
D'Antonio's simple, pastoral landscapes are reminiscent of his influence of Wyeth. Unlike the Brandywine School of landscape and portrait painters, his high intensity skies exaggerate color and bring out the deep blue green tones that can only be seen with certain weather conditions – similar to those of Maxfield Parrish. The combination of these techniques makes his work a rare departure from traditional landscape painting. He captures composition, color and light to bring out a palette that can only be seen with certain weather conditions or times of day. The combination of is a rare departure from traditional painting resulting in a truly spectacular departure from the ordinary.

OFFSHORE SAILING
D'Antonio's marine paintings capture the rush of offshore sailing. His work is about energy and the impact of the boat cutting through waves where he makes you feel the spray. This is a departure from the typical sailing subjects with the boat on the horizon. He is one of the few living American artists that put you – the viewer at the helm and often in adverse conditions where few have been. He has spent many years on the ocean and experienced seeing these subjects firsthand where blue turns to purple and the backwash from the boat creates a mystical green. Many of his offshore scenes combine a hyperrealist treatment of the boat with a more painterly ocean that helps exaggerate the power of motion through the waves making you feel that you are right there with startling immediacy.

THE SEA
D'Antonio articulate the unique power of the sea captured through breaking waves from many diverse locations from the Massachusetts cost to the rocky shores of Northern California. He puts you on right location where you can truly get a sense of the ocean’s majesty, it's smell and feel the spray.

URBAN
D'Antonio's urban subjects are about the unexpected surprise of discovering urban color. His locations are from both faraway places such as Genoa, Italy and Paris, France to Lambertville, New Jersey. His mixed media interpretation of graffiti scenes capture the stage where color, vibrancy, sharp outlines, the placement of drips, result in a design-like artistic appeal.

DYSTOPIA 2020
People are cloaked behind masks and confined to their homes to avoid a deadly pandemic. The US economy is in sweeping decline. Dark conspiracy theories about a virus as a form of bioterrorism are spiraling out of control. The Income inequality has left cities like Los Angeles with billionaires living in $100 - million homes while tens of thousands of homeless people sprawled out in Dickensian scene on the sidewalks. Protesters of racial injustice have taken to the streets across the U.S. and elsewhere, often coming into conflict with police and government troops the likes of which have not been seen since the 1960’s.

At the same time, the country is being slammed by record-setting hurricanes, burned by wildfires, imperiled by rising oceans and invaded by disease-carrying mosquitoes that could never live in our climate before and at last – bring on the murder hornets.

2020 David and David Gallery, Group Exhibition, Palm Beach Jewelry Art and Antiques Show, Palm Beach, Florida
2019 David and David Gallery, Group Exhibition, Naples, Art, Antique and Jewelry Show, Naples, Florida
2019 David and David Gallery, Group Exhibition, Palm Beach Jewelry Art and Antiques Show, Palm Beach, Florida
2016 Robert DeNiro’s Top Artist’s Nobu Hotel Eden Roc, Miami Beach Florida
2014 Cavalier Gallery, Group Exhibition, Important Maritime Paintings, Nantucket, MA
2014 Cavalier Gallery, Winter Group Exhibition, Contemporary Realism, Greenwich, CT
2013 Cavalier Gallery, Fall Group Exhibition, Greenwich, CT
2013 Cavalier Gallery, Group Exhibition, Important Maritime Paintings, Nantucket, MA
2012 J.M. Stringer Gallery, New Faces, Introducing John D’Antonio, Bernardsville, NJ
2010 Peter Marcelle Project Group Exhibition with Tom Wesselmann New York, NY
2006 Hammer Gallery, Group Exhibition, New York, NY, with LeRoy Neiman
2000 Marcelle Fine Art, Solo Exhibition, New York, NY
1997 Marcelle Fine Art, Group Exhibition, View From America, New York, NY
1993 Marcelle Fine Art, American Vision with Andrew Wyeth, New York, NY
1991 Marcelle Fine Art, Gallery Select, New York, NY
1987 Marcelle Fine Art, Gallery Select, New York, NY, with Andrew and Jamie Wyeth
1985 Marcelle Fine Art, Solo Exhibition, New York, NY
1984 Marcelle Fine Art, Solo Exhibition, New York, NY
1982 Marcelle Fine Art, Solo Exhibition, New York, NY