Statement

Artist Statement

Alex Ranniello is a painter based in Bloomfield, CT. His forte is portraiture and figure paintings in oils. His paintings embody the high spirits of summertime, reflecting the human spirit through bright luminous color palettes and gestural brushstrokes to paint cheerful, tropical, and warm summer scenes. In his oil paintings, Ranniello seeks to initiate classic summertime scenes by staging his own pool and beach photoshoots to paint from. The titles are derivative of the many cities and landmarks of California and the West Coast. Additionally in his studio practice, Ranniello does privately commissioned work in colored pencils, inks & watercolors, pastels, and charcoals. He also paints publicly commissioned murals across Connecticut. His work is influenced by greats of 20th century painting; Wayne Thiebaud, David Hockney, and Richard Diebenkorn. He also channels today’s working painters from the SoCal and Bay Area such as Danny Heller and Eric Nash.

Biography

Ranniello received his BFA in Painting & Drawing from Hartford Art School (‘17) and completed his Masters from The University of Hartford (‘21). In addition to his role as a studio artist, his involvement in his community has been multifaceted and highly widespread across Connecticut. In just the past five years, he has served as an arts program administrator, gallery assistant manager, workshop assistant, curator, guest visiting artist, event team manager, juror, and above all- an advocate for the arts.

In 2017, Alex began serving as a workshop assistant at Wethersfield Academy for the Arts. In 2018, he completed his Single Artist Residency at A.I.R. Studio Paducah (Paducah, KY) and co-founded GoingPlaces Art Collective; A Connecticut-based arts advocacy group founded to support local creatives and unite them with local businesses and organizations through sustainable opportunity. In the past three years, his work has been showcased in over 20 shows including 5 solo exhibitions across Connecticut. Additionally in these past three years, Alex has been a juror for the Regional Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards in Connecticut and in 2019 he served as a visiting Artist in Manchester Community College’s Art program. At West Hartford Art League, he was the 2nd place prize winner of The CT+6 Regional juried exhibition (2018) and a 3rd place prize winner in the 30th Annual National Arts Program’s Exhibit here in Connecticut (2021).

Since 2018, he served as the Assistant Gallery Manager at Stockman Gallery in New Britain, and (in 2020) he also worked as an Arts Program Administrator for Connecticut’s Office of the Arts. He has been a part of multiple public mural projects and initiatives across Connecticut including The Hartford Paints The City Project, The Black Lives Matter mural (RiseUP community group), Downtown Hartford’s 5 x 5 Mural initiative, The Meriden Humane Society mural project, The SoDo Mural project, and The Constitution Plaza Barbershop mural project, and many more initiatives.