(b. 1969)
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.
Craig Mooney's roots in art go back to his youth. As a young child, born and raised in Manhattan, the artist began to draw inspiration from his father, a physician and avid amateur painter. Mooney would scour office-building rubbish bins on weekends for art supplies. This lead to some "memorable" finds but some less memorable artistic creations. The city was an immensely inspirational place for the young artist. Especially on weekends, when the city streets would empty and leave a vast canyon of office towers in its place to be explored.
Mooney left the city in 1988 to attend Wheaton College (MA) just outside of Boston where he received his BFA in 1992. Boston, he found to be a rich city in the arts as NY and took advantage of the college’s close proximity to museums by visiting them frequently. During and after college, the artist worked with the filmmaking team Merchant Ivory Productions in New York, Texas and London. Some of these productions include "Ballad of the Sad Café", "Remains of the Day", and "Howard's End". Craig Mooney secured his first large commissioned work from New York Hospital in 1995. This resulted in a series of works for the hospital and Cornell Medical College.
Currently, Craig Mooney maintains a studio in Vermont. His focus now is in painting large, semi-abstract landscapes inspired by his surroundings. The open and bucolic settings of the countryside allows Mooney new sources of inspiration.
Awards
2003 Aug 'Artists' Choice' Award, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
2002 Aug 'Artists' Choice' Award, Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT
1998 May-Jul Fellowship Award/Vermont Studio Center Grant, Visual Artists Residency
Sessions 5B-6A, & B, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
Bibliography
2009 American Art Collector, 'Eye of the beholder'. July
2008 Burlington Free Press
Stowe Guide Winter/Spring
2007 Seven Days
Shelburne News
2006 Ric Kadour, New England Art Review
1998 Marc Awodey, “Pictures at an Exhibition”, Seven Days
1998 Burlington Free Press
1998 Stowe Reporter
Collections
The New York Hospital, New York, NY
Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
Merchant Ivory Films, New York, NY/ London, UK
The Browning School, New York, NY
Tufts University Dental School, Boston, Ma
Commissions
Conde Nast Publications: Conde Nast Traveler, New York, NY
The New York Hospital, New York, NY
Cornell Medical College, New York, NY
The Browning School, New York, NY
Merchant Ivory Films, New York, NY/ London, UK
"Ballad of the Sad Cafe/ Surviving Picasso"