Artist in Focus – Stefano Conti

Stefano Conti is an artist with Artstop Studio in Brunswick.

What kind of art do you make?

Visual art, using pastels, watercolours, charcoal and my subject matter is everything – landscapes, portraits, still life and abstract.

How long have you been making art?

Since I was at school in Italy and I was 12 or 13 years old. I had good skills and I found meaning and a sense of wellness when I did art.

What kind of art have you made in the past?

I tried sculpture about 10 times but my real love is visual art. I don’t do larger pieces, I like the beauty of small or medium size pieces. I used to use acrylic paint in the past but I have stopped that as no one seems to use it in the art studio, you need more time to prepare yourself, but I would like to go back to using acrylics.

What art are you working on right now?

I’m doing a kind of portrait using coloured pencils, which I rarely use, it’s not my favourite. But I enjoy to do portraits, I can use my mind and my imagination. I don’t want to copy from a book, even though mine are different from the original, it is not as satisfying.

What are you looking forward to?

Improving the quality of my painting which I am doing with practice at the studio. Also I would like to exhibit more often, I am really looking forward to the exhibition coming up on August.

Do you have any comments or thoughts about your AAV program?

I am very excited about participating in the program and the exhibitions. It’s a long time I have been doing art but still I enjoy it. I appreciate Arts Access for all the opportunities I have to practice my art and the life of the artist.

I am an artist. The artist is not the one who gives the speech. The artist is in the doing.

Find out more about Artstop – an AAV’s inclusive arts studio.

Stefano’s work will be in Beacon – Artstop’s exhibition at Counihan Gallery from Saturday 9 August – Sunday 26 October.