Anthony Conway

Anthony Conway

My Father's Jacket (Self Portrait)
Born September 29, 1961
Long Island, New York
Nationality American
Education Parsons School of Design Art Students League Medical College of Georgia
Known for Painting, Pastels, Drawing
Notable work A Declaration of Interdependence (c. 1991)
Chukkers (c. 2001)
Trident (c. 2011)
Movement Classical Realism

Anthony Conway (born September 29, 1961) is a prominent American realist painter, widely recognized for his figurative works on sports subjects, and his contemporary vision of American life.[1][2] Throughout his career, Conway has been compared with the American Master Thomas Eakins, in part because he embraced classical realist techniques and favored similar subjects. He is regarded as one of the early initiators of the contemporary classical art revival, although he rejects the stringent exactitude in depicting subjects adopted by many of his contemporaries.[3][4][5]

What sets Conway's art apart from other painters is his use of color, the diversity of his mediums, draftsmanship, Modernist sense of space, and his unique vision on modern life.[6][7]

Early life

The artist (2nd from Lt.), age 7, with his brothers in front of childhood home.

Conway was born in Long Island, New York, spending his childhood in the postwar, massed-produced suburb of Levittown, and in the South Shore town of Massapequa. He is the third of four sons of a comfortable, middle-class family. His parents are second-generation American, mostly Irish ancestry, Eileen, an educator, and Thomas Conway, a sales executive.[8][9] Their children were raised in a strict Catholic home. The family matriarch, his grandmother on his mother's side of the family dominated the household, and his mother, mother's sister, grandmother and grandfather on his father’s side were strong influences on him in his youth.

Conway had a passion for art early in life, and started copying reproductions in books on the Old Masters works that he admired, especially, the artists of the Italian Renaissance.[10][11] In grade school he demonstrated his talent in drawing, and his parents encouraged his artistic tendencies with private lessons, art supplies, and a small studio in the corner of his bedroom. By his teens, he was committed to becoming a professional artist. Conway attended St. Agnes Cathedral High School in Rockville Centre, Long Island, and New York State's Governor's School for the Arts in upstate New York. His affinity for the human form began early and he studied and drew from the nude at a local college while still in High School.[12][13] His first summer job in high school was in his neighbor's sign business.[14] Kal Seinfeld was the father of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, and it was this apprenticeship experience that showed Conway that he could make a living as an artist and he began to pursue becoming a commercial illustrator.

College education and artistic innovation

Art Students League

1980 would prove to be a pivotal year in Conway’s artistic development. He began his College education at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where he met, and became fast friends with Leonardo Drew. He loved the city and the wealth of art galleries and museums, where he saw for the first time the original paintings of the artists he admired. In the fall, Conway experienced the exhibition Edward Hopper: The Art and the Artist, at the Whitney Museum of American Art and discovered his artistic soul mate. Conway learned from Edward Hopper that the power of great art comes from the steadfast vision of the artist creating the work. Like Hopper, Conway is very private and rarely gives interviews because he feels the work should speak for itself the personal truth of the artist.[15] Conway shuns the celebrity culture of the modern world and consciously isolates himself from the fashion of the contemporary art-world, preferring living and creating in the South.[16][17][18][19]

In the early 80s, the Neo-expressionism art movement was the hip new art on the scene, and painters such as Julian Schnabel, Robert Longo, David Salle, Eric Fischl, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, were all the rage. Conway was not impressed by the lack of skills and craftsmanship in the Neo-expressionists' work. Combined with all the hype, he felt this was an art movement destine to fail.[20] The only artist among them that Conway felt had any lasting contribution was Eric Fischl, because of his honest portrayal of suburbia by removing the veil of the false image and Fischl's acknowledgement that he didn't have the training in painting available to him in school. Conway and his friends reacted strongly to all the bad painting in galleries by seeking to bring the craft of painting back for future generations of artists in America.[21][22][23]

While Parsons provided excellent instruction in the commercial arts, Conway was frustrated with the lack of instruction in painting techniques, and his friend Leonardo directed him to the Art Students League. The moment Conway stepped foot in the Art Students League, he knew it was here that he would learn to paint because the smell of linseed oil permeated the air. It was at the League that he also found his mentor in the artist David Leffel. Under Leffel's guidance, Conway had a breakthrough in his skills as a painter in the classical manner and Conway encouraged every fellow student he met to pursue the craft of painting in their art.[24][25][26][27]

While in college, Conway made his living as a freelance artist and working as a host in a French restaurant on Fifth Avenue next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There he encountered many celebrities and met the Pop artist, Andy Warhol.[28] Warhol was always on the lookout for new trends, and asked to see some of Conway's artwork. When Warhol learned that Conway was studying the classical techniques of the Old Masters, Warhol's reply was, "Oh, that's too much work you have to keep it simple." One piece of advice Warhol gave Conway that stuck was, "Don't worry about if you're creating something important, just keep making art and let others decide if it's good or not."[29]

While craftsmanship was important to Conway, he was concerned that too much emphasis on classical techniques and aesthetics was just as detrimental as none at all. Conway's belief is that if an artist was too obsessed with accurate observation and depiction of a subject that they risk losing a sense of life in their work, and their art would be stiff and stale. In addition, if an artist only created in the limited environment of the studio and didn’t step out in the world and experience and paint life in situ, Conway felt this kind of art would lack originality.[30][31][32] So, while his contemporaries went to the ateliers of Europe, Conway broke away and took a completely independent course and continued his studies in the South at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, GA.[33]

Medical school

Conway longed to study human anatomy first-hand and in-depth from the cadaver, and he earned entrance into the Medical College of Georgia in 1985. Like Thomas Eakins before him, Conway attended courses in anatomy and dissection alongside of medical students while completing his Master's of Science Degree in Medical illustration.[34][35] As he completed his Graduate studies in 1989, his career began to take off in an entirely new direction, and his understanding of human anatomy would prove to be essential to his art.[36]

Early career

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(Lt. to Rt.) Heidi Aiken, Prince William, and the Artist Anthony Conway at Sandhurst polo match.
Painting of relay race from 1996 Paralympic Games, Triumph, acrylic on paper, 6" x 12", by Anthony Conway

While taking a break from working on his Master’s Thesis in Graduate school, Conway encountered the sport of rowing on the Savannah River. He was immediately inspired and created several rowing scenes; the most notable is A Declaration of Interdependence.[37][38]

Conway's sporting art is more than a documentation of a dominant aspect of contemporary culture. Conway's humanity is evident throughout all of his art, and discerning viewers also detect the artist’s proactive, yet non-aggressive, expressions of social consciousness. For example, in A Declaration of Interdependence, the viewer sees the races compelling finish as it is taking place, a small female coxswain has guided the oarsman, whom Conway has represented as multiethnic, dressed in white shirts with red strips sitting in a blue boat-tellingly called America.[39]

His draftsmanship, subjects, use of color, and technique of mixing a variety of mediums drew rapid attention. Within a few short years, Conway was working with top professional athletes and teams, fortune 500 companies, the Centennial Olympic and Paralympic Games and drawing royalty and celebrities alike.[40][41][42] By August 2001, Conway was back in New York for a one-man show of his paintings on sports themes.

With the popularity of his sporting art, came commercial pressures by publishers and dealers to continue producing these images and mass-produce them as limited edition prints. Many wanted to shape Conway into the next Leroy Neiman type of artist and achieve the same kind of public notoriety and commercial success as Neiman. For Conway, his art was not about fame and fortune, and he didn’t want to be stereotyped as a sports artist. He was restless, and wanted to explore new, more personal subjects. Then, on September 11, 2001, our world changed, and with it Conway turned his back on the theme of sports and searched for meaning through his art.[43]

The flag paintings

Fall Harvest, oil on panel, 8" x 10" by Anthony Conway (Private Collection). An en plein air painting from Conway's Flag Series

In the first few years after 9/11, Conway changed course, and began to express through his art his personal feelings on the modern day American experience. After 9/11, there was an overwhelming expression of patriotism in the United States not seen since WWII. This was much different for Conway than his experience of government mistrust in the post-Vietnam era. And, while 9/11 was an attack on American soil, it was also an attack on all humanity. Inspired by his fellow American’s, Conway began to develop the idea for a series of paintings, and by mid-2000, he became absorbed in creating the flag paintings, which have the American flag as a common element in each work.[44]

Rather than making overt patriotic statements in the flag paintings, Conway gave the works a distinctly American character in which he tackled the contradictions within the modern American culture, gave homage to America's past, and provided hints of what may be in America's future.[45] As the War on Terror expanded and put more Americans in harms way, Conway’s Son-in-Law was deployed to Afghanistan. The differing emotions and contexts that Conway experienced in the more than 10 years he focused on the flag paintings has evolved into a remarkable historical portrait of America post-9/11.[46]

In the paintings of Anthony Conway, things are not always what they seem. He brings personal associations to each work that charge the works with and edge and soul all its own.[47] Regardless of his subject, once again at the core of all of Conway's art his love of humanity is apparent.[48][49]

Artistic style

Equine painting Chukkers, Oil on canvas, 16" x 20", by Anthony Conway (Private Collection) Painting selected as one of 15 international artists for the survey exhibition Realism 2002.

Conway is often identified with the classical realist revival in the contemporary art world; however, this is an inadequate classification of Conway's art. As he matured and his subject matter changed, so too, did Conway's technique. While Conway's style deeply reflects his respect of the Old Masters that he admires, he is constantly pushing new boundaries and experimenting in his art.[50]

Unlike many of his peers, Conway is willing to employ Modernists techniques and aesthetics.[51] Such as seen in Trident, one of his most notable flag paintings. Inspired by the abstract expressionism of Robert Rauschenberg's "Combines", Conway has taken painting from a two dimensional object to the third dimension with found objects, thus bridging sculptural and painterly elements. Conway then takes the painting a step further to a fourth dimension, by adding smell and sound.

Witnessing Conway at work, the writer Michael B. Smith described the artist's method, "Conway puts his whole heart and soul into his work. In a style reminiscent of Degas, he paints the forms in great detail, having already sketched multiple pieces during the actual event, to use as a blueprint for the masterwork. Conway's technique is interesting. First of all, he puts the color onto the canvas in layers, "soiling the canvas" as he calls it. When the colors and shapes are the way he envisioned them, he seals the painting."[52] For authentic effect, Conway layers his paintings sometimes breaking pastel dust into the paint, by using an acrylic wash, or by transparent glazes that conjure a feeling of life and luminosity. Adding oils or subtle metallics to these layers creates a living texture to the work. The effect is stunning: a painting that captures both the reality of the subject and its environment.[53]

Conway is the contemporary descendent of a long line of American Realist painters including Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Edward Hopper, and Andrew Wyeth.[54] His subject matter is primarily figurative, equine, American genre, portraiture, landscape and the occasional still life. Conway is resistant to being associated with a singular subject, medium, or art movement. An attitude that seems calculated to avoid being categorized and stereotyped. The evolution of his palette, mediums, sense of space, and subject matter are all evidence of the influence of the Classical and Modernist art movements. In his art, Conway blurs the distinctions between Classicism and Modernism with an increasingly abstraction of forms juxtapose with tightly rendered passages, and thus, a reinterpreting of the Realist tradition.

Dealers in New York and Palm Beach represent Conway, and his art is in important private and corporate collections worldwide.[55]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Wallace, Terry (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Introduction. p. 2. Conway is a young man who may be America's most notable painter of American sporting subjects.
  2. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The Flag Series". Talk Magazine (The Greenville News, A Gannett Co.): 39. Conway's career has been one of remarkable craftsmanship and insightful depiction of contemporary life. He is a leading contributor among artists advancing today's burgeoning renaissance in classicism and realism.
  3. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. He (Conway) was among the first small band of students who championed a renaissance of perceptual skills and craftsmanship because, as the artist says, "We felt those skills were being abandoned.
  4. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co. p. 63. Anthony Conway has rapidly become one of the predominant figures in the revival of classical painting in contemporary art.
  5. ↑ Gauthier, Leigh (July 5, 2002). "Local Painter Selected for International Exhibition: Respected Realist artist commends Greenville art community". The Greenville Journal 4 (28): A6. His years of developing his "voice" have paid off in recent years, as he has earned a reputation as one of the most talented of the latest generation of realistic painters.
  6. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. The artist, who is drawn to sports themes, marries classically inspired craftsmanship and a Modernist sense of space with an Impressionist color palette.
  7. ↑ Wallace, Terry (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Introduction. p. 2. A skilled draftsman, he (Conway) very effectively gets his viewer emotionally involved in his paintings. Meanwhile, his use of color and a technique of mixing a variety of mediums set him apart from other painters.
  8. ↑ Richardson-Moore, Deb (December 11, 1991). "Peace Center Gallery is Exhibiting Artist's 'Emotion in Motion'". Lifestyle Section: The Greenville News, a Multimedia Co. p. 2B.
  9. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway:The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 64. Born in Levittown, New York, Conway has always held a passion for the visual arts. His mother once declared that he was born with a brush in his hand.
  10. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. Conway, who has always been intrigued with the human anatomy, recalls, "Even as a child, all I wanted to do was draw like DaVinci, and capture the human form like Michelangelo. He practiced his technique in the traditional manner, by copying the Old Masters' works.
  11. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co. Growing up in New York, Conway admired and studied the works of the Old Masters.
  12. ↑ Smith, Michael B. (October 31, 1991). "With Anthony Conway: The Art's the Thing". EDGE Magazine (Artists Deserving Wider Recognition) 1 (13): 7. Conway's interest in art came at an early age, while living in New York, and by the time he was 15, he was attending life drawing classes at a local college.
  13. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. By tenth grade, he (Conway) was studying life drawing at Hofstra University.
  14. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". Talk Magazine: City People: Greenville News, A Gannett Co. 5. What was your first job? Sign painter's apprentice at Kal Seinfeld Signs (father of comedian Jerry Seinfeld).
  15. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway:The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 65. By painting a tremendous range of subjects, Conway's intent is to speak universal truths about the human condition that resonates with the viewer in personal ways. "It's really about the work," he says. "My personal intentions don't matter. In the end, I'm just a painter trying to paint from my experiences and observations—putting it all out there for people to decide for themselves what the work means and how the work feels.
  16. ↑ Smith, Michael B. (October 31, 1991). "With Anthony Conway: The Art's the Thing". EDGE Magazine (Artists Deserving Wider Recognition) 1 (13): 7. After graduating from college, Anthony made Greenville his home. "For me, Greenville is the ideal place to live and work," says Conway. "Few distractions, easy access to larger cities, with an ever changing wealth of cultural activities to educate and inspire me.
  17. ↑ Aiken, Heidi (April 30, 1995). "The Fine Art of Cycling". Tour DuPont Supplement: The Greenville News. p. 5. An artist of the '90s, Conway lives and works quietly out of his home-based studio in Greenville.
  18. ↑ Gauthier, Leigh (July 5, 2002). "Local Painter Selected for International Exhibition; Respected Realist artist commends Greenville art community". The Greenville Journal (Community) 4 (28): A6. Anthony Conway splits his time between New York, Connecticut, the Hamptons and Greenville, but he says he calls Greenville his home. And while those other cities may be more well known as strongholds for the arts, he says Greenville was the ideal place for him to develop as an artist—and he plans to keep returning here as his burgeoning career will allow him.
  19. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway:The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine: 64. There are so many distractions in New York that it can be difficult to give yourself the quiet time necessary to work," says Conway. "By contrast, the people of Greenville remind me of an America that used to be. And although there is a small town feel, we have tremendous cultural offerings here that equal those of many larger cities in both size and quality; Greenville is the ideal place for my creativity and work.
  20. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway:The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 65. Conway sees a revival of classical realism in the art world - a renaissance approach, if it pleases. "I believe that we've seen somewhat of an aesthetic recession over the past 20 years," says Conway. "As a whole, there seems to be more hype and shock value than in attention to real craftsmanship.
  21. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2.
  22. ↑ Gauthier, Leigh (July 5, 2002). The Greenville Journal (Community) 4 (28): A7. Abstraction and conceptualism dominated the 20th-century art world, but realism held its place, and there is a major shift back to realistic painting, " Conway says. "It was all about the concept, but people are pushing for the craft again. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  23. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway:The Flag Series". TALK Magazine (TALK Art: The Greenville News, A Gannett Co.): 39. To bring craftsmanship back to contemporary art, I reference the techniques of the past, but think in the future related to the subject, composition and look of the image to define this moment in time.
  24. ↑ Smith, Michael B. (October 31, 1991). "With Anthony Conway:The Art's the Thing". EDGE Magazine (Artists Deserving Wider Recognition): 7. One of the most influential phases of his career came when Anthony studied portraiture and figure painting for four summers with David Leffel at The Art Students League of New York
  25. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. During the art Boom of the early 80's, Conway earned a B.F.A. at the Parsons School of Design and honed his skills at the Art Students League where instructor David Leffel influenced him.
  26. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co. Conway graduated from the New York Parsons School of Design and trained with David Leffel at Manhattan's Art Students League.
  27. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The flag Series". TALK Magazine (TALK Art: The Greenville News, a Gannett Co.): 39. Born and raised in suburban Long Island, N.Y., Conway showed an early talent for drawing, eventually earning a degree from the Parsons School of Design, and later sharpening his skills through the rigorous academic tradition of drawing and painting the human form at the Arts Students League of New York. Then, determined to study anatomy from the cadaver, he earned a master's of science in medical illustration.
  28. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co.
  29. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway:The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine: 65. I know when I've painted something good; I just know. When a work tells a story or expresses a thought, then I know that it's finished.
  30. ↑ Aiken, Heidi (April 30, 1995). "The Fine Art or Cycling". Tour Du Pont Suppliment: The Greenville News. p. 5. Conway says immersion in his subjects gives the inspiration for the emotional aspects of his art.
  31. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. He (Conway) bases his paintings on first-hand experience and often works in plein air-because, as he says, "An artist must be in the subject's environment to absorb its essence.
  32. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway: The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine: 65. Conway describes his style as contemporary realism, conveying the action of a subject in ways that are real, but that aren't tight or constricted. "It's important for me to spend time saturating myself with a wide range of subjects having to work in their environments," he says. "I like to sit in the world of the uncomfortable for a while and wait for that spark of energy to come my way. When it does, I go to work—starting with charcoal to color studies before I hold a brush. It's a labor-intensive approach to symmetry, but well worthwhile in the end.
  33. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway: The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 64. After earning his undergraduate degree from the Parsons School of Design, Conway sojourned southward to the Medical College of Georgia, there earning the Master of Fine Arts degree in medical illustration and enabling a nice transition to the extremely detailed paintings and drawings that characterize his work.
  34. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. Determined to study anatomy first-hand from the cadaver, he (Conway) earned entrance into the Medical College of Georgia and received the anatomical training of a medical student (while completing a Master's of Science degree in Medical Art).
  35. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co. Conway came south for his master's degree in medical art from the Medical College of Georgia. Upon graduation, he made Greenville his home.
  36. ↑ Gauthier, Leigh (July 5, 2002). "Local Painter Selected for International Exhibition: Respected Realist artist commends Greenville art community". The Greenville Journal (Community) 4 (28): A7. His years of medical school helped him bring added realism to portrayals of anatomy and movement.
  37. ↑ Rhodes, Dan (March 26, 1989). "Putting in an Artistic Oar: Illustrator paints success for Augusta rowing team". Entertainment: The Augusta Chronicle/Augusta Herald. p. 5D. Two years ago, New York native Anthony Conway took off from his studies in medical illustration at the Medical College of Georgia to go watch the 1987 Augusta Rowing Regatta. As an artist and a student of anatomy, he was facinated by the wide range of colors — the blue river, the team uniforms, the long boats — and the emotional expressions on the faces of the losers and winners. "I thought this would be a great sport to paint," he (Conway) said.
  38. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The Flag Series". TALK Magazine (TALK Arts: The Greenville News, a Gannett Co.): 39. It was while working on his education that Conway started doing paintings of sports just to relax. This "hobby" lead to a national reputation and an international opportunity to work with the first professional digital camera to create art on the spot at the 1996 centennial Olympic Games.
  39. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. pp. 2–3.
  40. ↑ Aiken, Heidi. "The fine Art of Cycling". Tour Du Pont Supplement: The Greenville News. p. 5. Many professional sports stars have painted alongside Conway, and have co-signed the original artworks with him.
  41. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. In 1996, when he (Conway) was designated "An Official Artist of the Paralympic Games," in Atlanta, Eastman Kodak sponsored Conway (their, and at the Centennial Olympic Games '96)
  42. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co. Conway first gained international recognition for his art of the 1996 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since then, Conway has been in high demand for his portraiture, landscape, figurative, equine and Americana work.
  43. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The Flag Series". TALK Magazine (TALK Arts: The Greenville News, A Gannett Co.): 39. I was stunned watching the live coverage of death and destruction and began asking, 'What does all this mean?' It was incomprehensible to me, and I began doing paintings of what I was seeing around me to make sense of what was happening to our world. This is how the series on flags began.
  44. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The Flag Paintings". TALK MAgazine (TALK Arts: Greenville News, A Gannett Co.): 38. Artist Anthony Conway is well known for his insightful depictions of contemporary life and says being in New York witnessing 9-11, he felt a common emotion with the rest of the country, and chose to use his immense talent to express it.
  45. ↑ Hassold, Kim (December 2006). "Anthony Conway: The Flag Series". TALK Magazine (TALK Arts: The Greenville News, A Gannett Co.): 39. The Flag Series is not so much about the flag as they are a reflection of my thoughts and feelings about our humanity and my journey in the American experience," Conway says. "These paintings show how we use the American flag to define ourselves, which exposes our best qualities and our contradictions, which reveals much about our national character.
  46. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). "Anthony Conway: The Thinker's Painter". South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 65. Conway maintains that inspiration and creative energy can't be rushed. "I've been working on some of my paintings for more than a decade," he says. "I don't force a painting to be done, I work on it — come back to it — and work on it some more.
  47. ↑ Smith, Michael B. (October 31, 1991). "With Anthony Conway: The Art's the Thing". EDGE Magazine (Artists Deserving Wider Recognition) 1 (13): 7. Conway's works catch your eye in a way that seems to hold you there. The dancers, the baseball players, or enyone else who is captured by the mind and hands of Anthony Conway seem to come to life before you.
  48. ↑ Richardson-Moore, Deb (December 11, 1991). "Peace Center Gallery is Exhibiting Artist's 'Emotion in Motion'". Lifestyle: The Greenville News, A Multimedia Co. p. 1B. I'm really interested in the human figure in movement," Conway explained. "That's the essence of any kind of subject I paint." The dancers in rehearsal and repose are what interests Conway, rather than their idealized stage presences. Here he captures them bandaged and weary, sleeping and sweating and stretching. "The stage is the illusion," he said. "The reality of the dance is behind the scenes. And I found myself more drawn to that, because to me, it says more about what happens on stage...It talks a lot about the sacrafices that dancers make.
  49. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 3. Conway's humanity is evident throughout.
  50. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 2. The artist works with pastels, oils and acrylics on paper, canvas or linen and willingly experiments with every available medium.
  51. ↑ Lew, Irvina (2001). Anthony Conway: American Sport. Essay. p. 3. Conway's coloration clearly extends beyond the limited dark palette of the Old Masters; it exudes a luminescence more aptly associated with Impressionism and plein air painting. Reaching for the Dream —painted in acrylic, pastels and oils on canvas — unites both Modernist and Impressionist components.
  52. ↑ Smith, Michael B. (October 31, 1991). "With Anthony Conway: The Art's the Thing". EDGE Magazine (Artists Deserving Wider Recognition) 1 (13): 7.
  53. ↑ Jenkins, Vance (March 2004). South Carolina Magazine (The Arts): 65. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  54. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co.
  55. ↑ Provence, Leslie (January 28, 2011). "20 Questions with Anthony Conway". GreenvilleOnline.com. Talk Magazine: City People, Greenville News, A Gannett Co.