Tad DeSantO: MIXED MEDIA Artist

Artist StatemenT

I am a 74 year-old self-taught artist. I have been showing and selling my work since 2005. I’ve exhibited my work at the New York City Outsider Art Fair, the Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft, the Kentucky Folk Art Center, Craft(s) Gallery & Mercantile, Edenside Gallery, Gallery Hertz, Swanson Contemporary, the Good Folk Fest and other venues. I have been fortunate to have my work travel beyond the Louisville metro area. The University of Kentucky has five of my pieces displayed in their newest residence hall. Two of my pieces were purchased from a 4-person show in Nashville coordinated by the Kentucky Folk Art Center. I have also sold work in Dallas, San Francisco, Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Lexington, Georgetown, CT, South Carolina and one to Scotland!

I enjoy using found materials, things I find on Louisville’s streets and alleys —an old violin case, green lath that had once been part of a gate, old sewing machine drawers, etc. My “paintings” are mixed media: oil sticks, house paint, cardboard, acrylics, markers, pencils, cheesecloth, Kraft paper, images from magazines, etc. The final piece is mounted on masonite and usually “back framed” for hanging. I also like making assemblages, sculptures composed of found materials, chair parts, whiskey barrel hoops, rubber, tin, etc.

Collections:
Congressman John Yarmuth, (D-KY)
Commonwealth Bank & Trust
Estate of Julius Friedman
Jacque Parsley
Henry Heuser
Larae Bunn
Nancy Peterson
Cameron Pape Hendricks
Dr. Lawrence Weis
Evelyn “Tricky” Welch
University of Kentucky
Filson Historical Society