This Western Pennsylvania artist captures light and the seemingly simplistic with paint and brush like few others can.
Pittsburgh-based artist Mike Schiavone brings a meticulous eye to the every day, transforming ordinary objects into extraordinary works of art.
Schiavone specializes in hyper-realistic painting, drawing inspiration from how light interacts with glass and other common materials.
His work challenges viewers to see beauty in the mundane, elevating everyday scenes with striking precision.
Beyond his explorations of light and form, Schiavone also creates pieces that pay homage to the rich history and cultural heritage of Western Pennsylvania.
Now let's hear from the artist:
My work is inspired and informed from a wide variety of sources. Those artistic influences range widely from the “Old Masters” to Norman Rockwell. While my painting style defies easy classification, revealing my formative exposure to styles like neoclassicism, impressionism, comic book art, vintage advertising illustration, and rock album art, my aesthetic makes more sense.
When I choose subjects, my focus is on capturing light, texture, composition, and atmosphere. A viewer should feel the luminosity and “touch” the textures with their mind's eye.
My compositions are carefully considered, with the intent to bring the viewer deeply into a quiet moment of contemplation and beauty. Superficially, these pieces may appear to be nothing more than decorative still-life paintings.
In reality, they are an opportunity for me to show others how I see the world, all day, every day. Tiny moments of stunning beauty in a raging storm of overstimulation; a swath of amber light cast through a bottle of beer onto skin, stained glass windows so awash in sunshine that they dissolve into blinding white.
Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary is survival.
Everything else is concrete, advertisements, or ashes.
