Tony Saladino was born in New Orleans. His BS degree is from LSU in New Orleans. His work is in the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Hanoi, University of Wisconsin - Parkside, University of Dallas, Wichita Falls Museum, Museum of International Art, Bahia, Brazil, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri,and Parkersburg Art Center - Parkersburg, West Virginia. He is listed in Who's Who in American Art, and Who's Who in the South and Southwest.He has taught at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and Oxbow Summer School of Art, Michigan.ARTIST STATEMENTI think successful art is made by working in a way that is natural for the artist - one that reflects his or her preoccupations, and interests. Working within our time we are challenged to think about all that is around us. We react to outside stimuli, or to our own thoughts by creating images that we hope will affect others. I enjoy the risk taking aspect of shifting from theme to theme, and the energy I get from going from medium to medium. I am beginning to accept that what I do today, in the present, is all I can do. That is, there comes a time that one must accept his or hers own idiosyncrasies, and blemishes as valid. If we wait until we are perfect no art will get done. This provides latitude for experimentation, because when the possibility for failure is allowed, and accepted, then experimentation, and confidence, follow. Art is about more than beauty. An artist communicates an idea, or feeling, or tries to make connections. I want each piece to possess a spatial energy that compels a viewer to look. I want the images to be universal enough to be compelling. The viewer is either repulsed, pleased, made interested, or stimulated in such a way that they are made to consider other ideas that are not so easily conveyed by printed media. When I get off track, I am reminded by Tolstoy’s words about the objective of art: "Art is human activity consisting of this, that one man consciously, by means of certain external signs, hands on to others feelings he has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings, and also experience them."