My work is very diverse and I work in various different mediums
Peterborough based Contemporary Artist Tony Nero
Tony is exhibiting at our Escape the Ordinary Exhibition at Stamford Arts Centre Gallery: 12 to 23 November 2024
I have been developing a style, which I call my urban style, fusing abstract with traditional realism, creating a more contemporary way for me to create portraits.
Tony Nero
Originally trained as a graphic designer, I worked in the music industry producing record sleeves, posters and magazines for a period that exceeded 20 years. Part of this time spent running my own graphic studio. I have also produced graphic works and artistry for charitable purposes. This includes the Peterborough Environment Week 2005 leaflet, produced for Peterborough City Council. Up until 2014 work as a graphic designer for a local charity.
As a child I’ve always enjoyed art and while attending secondary school in London, was encouraged by my art teachers. Over the years my passion for art has grown and being inspired by nature, people, surrealism, life and other artists, I love to paint just about anything. I also love the effect of light and dark and often love to work while listening to music. Learning all the time while trying to improve my work and hoping to evoke something in the viewer.
My work is very diverse and I work in various different mediums such as pencils, charcoal, pastels, oils, watercolour and stipple-dot drawings. The majority of my art being self-taught but I also undertook some formal fine arts training at the London Guildhall University. My work was first displayed at the former Peterborough Art House and I had my first solo exhibition in Peterborough in 2008.
Pieces of my work are now held in homes and private collections across the Caribbean, Spain, France, Sweden, UK, Kenya and New York. Some of my works hang in the corridor and offices of the Marie LLoyd Day Care Centre, Hackney Council, London and at the Millennium Centre in Peterborough. Ever since my first exhibition I have been showing my work regularly and is very pro-active in promoting local art in Peterborough.
As well as producing a small quarterly newsletter about what I’ve been doing, I am also on the committee of two local art groups, Peterborough Artists Open Studios and Creative Peterborough. My past works included local dignitaries such as three Mayors, Councillors, the CEO of the council and even the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. I am also very active in promoting Black History Month and Diversity in Peterborough. One of my biggest achievements to date was showing my Black Heroes collection of portraits in an exhibition at Wembley Stadium.
And most recently had my ‘This Is Me’ exhibition at Norman Cross Gallery opened by Peterborough’s MP Fiona Onasa, a visit from renowned poet Benjamin Zephaniah and elated to have sold piece of my work to world premier percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
In some of my work, I pursue my fascination with ‘Absence of Presence’. The simple concept where we are able so see something that‘s no longer there, or visualise what used to be. I try to capture this concept in my work by using marks and colours, also leaving out certain features in order to add depth and encourage creativity in the viewer. The abstract nature of my work encourages a sense of excitement of not knowing what will happen with each stroke, and the secret of the final image is to decide what not to include.
Contact Tony Nero |
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Website: artoftonynero.com or follow Art of Tony Nero on Twitter, Facebook & Instagram |
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