Craig Mooney makes paintings of dramatic moments and heightened emotionality that are known for being expansive and expressive. Though a representational painter, the artist incorporates a myriad of abstract qualities throughout his paintings. In his figurative work, Mooney romanticizes his subjects and presents them in an atmospheric lens that is best described as dreamlike. His paintings appear to be capturing a moment suspended in time. While his work feels familiar, it is not specific. Rather it is, on a very basic level, symbolism of what could have been, has been or will be... Born and raised in the heart of midtown Manhattan (NY), Mooney's roots in art go back to his youth. His father, an amateur artist, taught him how to create oil paintings from discarded art supplies found on city streets. To Mooney, the city was an endless source of inspiration at an early age. Though the artist would later take classes in art both in high school and college, he regards this early exposure as the truest form of training he had ever received, After a brief career in the film industry, the artist moved out of New York in the mid-nineties to rural Vermont. The open and bucolic settings of the countryside allowed Mooney new sources of inspiration. Today, Mooney devotes himself full time to his art at his studio in Vermont.