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Anthony Cudahy (b.1989, Fort Myers, Florida, US) received a BFA from Pratt Institute, NY in 2011 and completed an MFA at Hunter College, NY in 2020. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Cudahy is a figurative painter whose tender scenes reveal the nuanced complexities of life. In masterful compositions he creates a world for unspoken stories, intimate moments and romantic gestures. Personal and poetic, Cudahy’s figures coalesce with the atmosphere of their environments in fluid brushstrokes. At once dark and luminous, Cudahy’s paintings often have a phosphorescent quality to them, as though they are lit from within. For the artist, how the paint is handled has its own narrative potential – the thick textures, light airy space, patterning and delicate marks are all active in the story he is creating. Alongside painting, Cudahy makes incredibly detailed colored pencil drawings, in an all-consuming process of mark making. Unlike his paintings which transform throughout the making, the challenging medium calls for the compositions to be decided beforehand. Cudahy devotedly collects images. His collection draws upon film stills, snapshots of his partner, ancient sites, hagiographic icons and the photography of his great uncle, Kenny Gardner (which his husband, Ian Lewandowski has been compiling). Cudahy returns to his collected images time and time again, for they have a potent quality, which sparks ideas and concepts for the works.
[…] Anthony Cudahy joined us to talk about his concurrent exhibitions, Fool’s errand, on view at GRIMM Gallery, and Fool’s gold at Hales Gallery, both running until October 19. Cuhady says he thinks of painting as a self-appointed fool’s errand, but goes on to say that it is important to have parts of our lives that don’t have precise logic and reasoning. The Hale show, in the end, became about concepts of alchemy, and Cudahy used the titles to link both shows. To learn more about these shows, listen to the complete interview. […]