As a college student, Tony Chimento was encouraged to accept the notion that art could only be valid if it somehow "pushed the envelope." To be avant-garde and new seemed by far the most important criterion to professors. However, it seemed to Chimento that once that art-historical time line ended in the late 60's with the minimal artists and the final blank white canvas, then the whole idea of artists making marks on canvas should have ended along with it. Of course, "as we all know, it didn't." For Chimento, that began to erode the power that the so called "Avant-Garde" held in his thinking about his validity as a realist painter and opened the door for new ways of thinking about art along with his own self- respect as an artist. The question then became: Why was it so important to be an artist? If not the new, what was artwork to be about? Initially, Chimento felt insecure about the answers that he slowly felt forming with each new painting he completed. Allowing the work to speak for itself, Chimento began to be aware on a conscious level of something that was always there intuitively: that his painting is mostly about the exploration of beauty and the space we make for its contemplation. "In a world where the ugly and violent seem increasingly more intense, the exploration of beauty and serenity, not as escape... but as antidote, certainly must be as valid a reason for making art as any other. The act of painting itself can be seen as a metaphor for what is best about life." Tony Chimento has shown his work since the 1980s, and his paintings are included in collections across the United States and internationally. He has served as the Vice Chair of the Art Center/South Florida, and has been a member of the International Guild of Realism, Scottsdale, AZ, the Wynwood Art Association in Miami, FL, the Provincetown Art Association & Museum, and the Woodstock Artist's Association in Woodstock, NY. His paintings have won numerous awards, including Best in Show at the Fall Fiesta Salon at the Broward Art Guild, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and the Pollock-Krasner Award at the Pollock Krasner Foundation in NYC, NY. He was twice chosen as a winner in the "New American Paintings" competition for the Southern Region, and The Winsor & Newton Company chose his work as the winning entry in their 3rd Annual Competition. Chimento's work has also featured in articles in an array of publications, including American Artist Magazine and the New York Times. Bold conception, impeccable draftsmanship, touching humor, and a profound sense of place radiate from his paintings, transporting viewers with the searing sensitivity of a master at work.