Interview
Bill Santelli
Bill Santelli’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States, including the Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL; Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, NJ; Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA; Redline Arts Center, Denver, CO; University of Hawaii, Hilo, HI; Purdue University Galleries, West Lafayette, IN; and Mesquite Arts Center, Dallas, TX. In addition, his work is in the collections of Maxtor Corporation, Denver, CO; MedImmune, Inc., Gaithersburg, VA; Hale and Dorr, Boston, MA; Simon School of Business, UR, Rochester, NY; and Information Technology Association of America, Arlington, VA. Bill is the recipient of awards and honors including the Distinguished Alumni Award (2004), FLCC, Canandaigua, NY; and two residency fellowships to the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was born to be an artist. I never felt like I chose art – I felt like art chose me, and so it’s like a moth being attracted to a flame – art was calling me. It always has been, and still does. My mother tells the story of how when I was 7 years old, I announced that I was going to France to be an artist. I’ve been an artist my whole life. It’s all I ever wanted to be/do.
Along the way it was, at times, necessary to earn money in order to keep painting, so I found employment in art-related fields and businesses. I’ve held positions as a high school art teacher, archival picture framer, manager of the largest antique print gallery on the west coast, sales person and assistant book buyer for an art supply company, and general manager of a wholesale/retail picture framing supply company with retail framing stores. I also believe each of those careers were necessary experiences/steps on my path to being an artist.”
What inspires you?
“I’m inspired by many things - getting up early for daily meditation, being in nature (I’m an avid walker/hiker), poetry, dreams, music, reading (artist biographies and spiritual philosophy), talking about art with fellow artists, and going to exhibitions. Inspiration comes from within as well as outside myself.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“My paintings personify the defining movements of twentieth century art, geometric abstraction and surrealism. At times, they expose the subconscious landscape of the mind. At other times, the canvas reveals the painted surface as the essential intention of the painting. I want the work to inspire, not be defined. I want to place the viewer in an ambiguous realm, like music does.
I’ve had a full-time studio practice since 1991, which has allowed me to concentrate my energies within myself, which then become internal to the work I produce. I use bold colors and shapes to express my intuition derived from an attractive magnetic charge some call inspiration.”
What artists influence you most?
“Jackson Pollock, Ellsworth Kelly, Paul Jenkins, Ken Noland, Jasper Johns, Agnes Martin, Salvador Dali, to name a few.”
How would you describe your work?
“My paintings are acrylic abstractions, and can be recognized by my bold use of color, line and space to portray my dreams and inner visions on canvas.
Imagery arises naturally from the heart/mind, and is felt as much as perceived. Elemental forms (circles, squares, triangles, etc.) have features and ‘a look’. They provoke reactions as much as a human face or body – viewers may not always realize it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not so.”
“Abstract painting is often just beautiful - but it’s not only about beauty. It’s about recognizing what beauty opens up to you. Abstract painting can enable you to be quiet, it’s the quiet space of the arts. Abstract painting isn't a story. It resists the narrative. It’s all at once.”
What process, materials, techniques, etc., do you use to create your artwork?
“I use an intensive application process which involves blending and layering acrylic colors and mediums on canvas. My paintings sometimes look airbrushed, but they are not. I achieve this effect with a unique brush technique - creating a surface of luminous color and a dynamic interplay between surface, space, color, and light.”
What is your creative process like?
"My creative process is a very private thing – though not for any magical reasons. These days, the public seems to want to always look behind the curtain to see what it’s all about - but it’s actually quite simple – I get up and go into the studio to paint pretty much every day. Being inspired to work is not a problem for me.
I don’t do preliminary drawings or designs, preferring instead to ‘enter the arena’, face the blank canvas, and start working spontaneously from inspiration and experience. For me the process of making art takes precedence over the need for verbal communication. Creativity is itself a language and allows me to connect with the world – and to myself – on a non-verbal level.
My eye never sleeps. I work mainly from my own inner vision. I paint the abstract language of colors, forms, and shapes that my eye visualizes, using bold colors to provoke a feeling or sensation that engages the viewer in an emotional exchange with the work. Painting titles set a loose frame of reference but leave room for the viewer’s imagination to make connections, which may or may not be the same as my own.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“From my point of view, there has always been, and will always be, artist’s creating art that will appeal to certain segments of our population. Each artist gets to choose what type of work they want to create, what genre and/or message they want to convey, and how/where they want it to fit in. Personally, I create art to bring beauty and light into our world. My mantra is: Express beauty, some serenity, peace... I hope that the world evolves in that direction, rather than toward darkness.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“2021:
-Sacrifice, International Contemporary Exhibition | M.A.D.S. Gallery, Milan, Italy and Fuerteventura, Spain
-Constellations, Bill Santelli, Sarah Baker Michalak, Mizin Shin, | Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
-In a Different Light, Group Exhibition | Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY2020:
-Dress Me, Fashion Week International Contemporary Exhibition | M.A.D.S. Milano Gallery, Milan, Italy
-Coming Home, Group Exhibition, Oxford Gallery | Rochester, NY2018:
-11th Annual Mid-Atlantic New Painting Biennial Exhibition | Ridderhof Martin Gallery, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA;. Juror, Kimberli Gant, McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary -Art at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA2017:
-Drawing Resurfaced II, National Juried Contemporary Drawing Exhibition | Purdue University Galleries, West Lafayette, IN
-Doppelgangers and Doubles, Group Exhibition | Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY2016:
-Texas Visual Arts Association National Juried Exhibition | Mesquite Arts Center, Mesquite, TX | Jurors, Andrea Karnes, Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, TX, and Gabriel Ritter, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
-ArtPrize 8, International Art Event | Devos Place Convention Center, Grand Rapids, MI
-Drawing Never Dies | Redline Contemporary Art Center, Denver, CO2015:
-The Elusive Image, Bill Santelli, Anthony Dungan, Jan Hewett-Towsley | Oxford Gallery, Rochester, NY
-ArtPrize 7, International Art Event | The Historic Harris Building, Grand Rapids, MI
-ACA, 2015 National Exhibition | Art Design Consultants Fine Art, Cincinnati, OH
-Cosmos, Imagining the Universe, National Juried Exhibition | Annmarie Sculpture Gardens & Arts Center, in association with the Smithsonian Institution, Dowell, MD
-Look Like What It Means, National Juried Exhibition | University of Hawaii at Hilo, HI”
