Anthony Mastromatteo’s story begins not with a brush in his hand, however with a e-book. He studied Artwork Historical past at Princeton College, graduating in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts diploma. The years that adopted positioned him within the coronary heart of New York’s artwork world, working at Christie’s public sale home. There he dealt with American work, Nineteenth-century works, maritime work, and objects. It was a job that surrounded him with artwork each day, however it wasn’t sufficient to remain on the skin trying in. Slowly, he felt the pull to step into the follow of constructing artwork himself.
Evenings after work, he studied on the Artwork College students League in New York Metropolis. This steadiness—public sale home by day, studio by evening—was the beginning of his transition. In 1997, he left the safety of Christie’s behind and entered the Water Avenue Atelier full-time. The Atelier was based by Jacob Collins, and its instructing was rooted within the classical French academy system. Right here, Mastromatteo immersed himself in drawing, portray, and the rigorous traditions of remark and method.
By 2002, he accomplished his coaching and dedicated himself to the unsure, but deeply fulfilling, lifetime of knowledgeable artist. He settled in Akron, Ohio, the place he has lived and labored ever since. For greater than twenty years, his days have been devoted solely to the craft of portray, a dedication that displays each self-discipline and fervour.
From Public sale Home Partitions to Studio Partitions
Mastromatteo’s early years at Christie’s weren’t wasted. That setting gave him a large publicity to artwork historical past and {the marketplace}. Dealing with work by established artists sharpened his understanding of composition, brushwork, and the subtleties that separate extraordinary artwork from extraordinary artwork. In some ways, that point was its personal apprenticeship. It gave him a basis that later merged along with his tutorial coaching on the Water Avenue Atelier.
The mixture of scholarship, industrial publicity, and hands-on coaching is uncommon. Many artists come up by solely a type of paths. Mastromatteo carries all three, and it shapes the best way he thinks about his personal work. His artwork usually carries a conceptual edge, partaking each with concepts and with the direct expertise of trying.
The Bread of Life
Certainly one of Mastromatteo’s latest works, The Bread of Life (2025), captures his mix of curiosity and philosophy. It’s an oil on canvas, measuring 18 by 24 inches. The topic seems deceptively easy: bread, one of many least nourishing staples in its mass-produced, modern type. However Mastromatteo’s goal will not be culinary; it’s metaphysical.
He recollects Aristotle’s declare that philosophy begins in marvel. That thought turned the seed for the portray. Might an outline of one thing so extraordinary, even nutritionally empty, generate a deeper type of nourishment? Might marvel on the easiest issues open a path to marvel on the nature of being itself?
On this approach, the portray doesn’t cease at illustration. It factors again to the viewer’s personal state of consciousness. The bread isn’t just bread; it turns into a mirror, asking whether or not nourishment comes from matter alone, or additionally from the act of contemplation.
The Work and the Questions
A lot of Mastromatteo’s work carries this steadiness: technically disciplined portray infused with philosophical or cultural questioning. His follow is rooted in realism, however not in realism for its personal sake. As an alternative, he makes use of acquainted imagery as an entry level into concepts.
The selection of bread will not be unintentional. Bread has been an emblem of life, sustenance, and spirituality throughout centuries and cultures. In spiritual traditions, bread is linked with ritual, sacrifice, and transcendence. In on a regular basis life, it’s tied to survival and customary labor. By selecting this picture, Mastromatteo faucets into that lengthy historical past whereas additionally partaking in modern irony: in the present day’s processed bread is usually stripped of actual nourishment. The portray holds each layers collectively—historical image and fashionable vacancy—whereas pointing towards the potential of renewal by marvel.
A Life in Artwork
For Mastromatteo, artwork has not been a aspect pursuit or a passing curiosity. It has been a 25-year journey that started in lecture halls, wound by public sale rooms, grew in studio school rooms, and now continues within the quiet focus of his Akron studio. Every step added a layer to his perspective.
His work should not loud statements, however meditations. They ask questions relatively than delivering solutions. In a world flooded with pictures, Mastromatteo’s work slows the tempo and attracts the viewer again to trying—actually trying—at what’s in entrance of them.
The span of his profession exhibits that dedication. Since 2002, he has sustained a life as a working artist, a tough path requiring each interior conviction and outward self-discipline. His follow stays anchored in oil on canvas, a medium that connects him with centuries of custom whilst he applies it to modern thought.
Conclusion
Anthony Mastromatteo’s path displays a devotion to artwork in all its types—historical past, commerce, research, and follow. From Princeton to Christie’s, from the Atelier to Akron, his life traces a line of steady engagement. His latest portray, The Bread of Life, distills that engagement right into a easy but profound gesture. It asks whether or not even essentially the most extraordinary objects can develop into doorways into marvel, and whether or not marvel itself can nourish us.
In his palms, artwork turns into each a query and an providing. It’s a seek for which means carried out by paint, rooted in custom but open to discovery. After greater than twenty years of regular work, Mastromatteo continues to color with the identical curiosity that first drew him in—curiosity about artwork, about life, and about what it means to be nourished by each.
