Artist Statement: "The design I created for this year's piano is based on the melding together of two styles that I love, Art Nouveau and Charles Rennie Mackintosh style. I've always loved the Arts and Crafts school of architecture and interiors and how this design aesthetic can be applied to furnishings and fine art. It was easy to picture how great a Sing for Hope Piano would look with this combination working together. My design depicts a female figure adorned with stylized flowers on the front of the piano with arts and crafts design elements embellishing the areas around it, very reminiscent of the turn of the century poster art during that period. The illustration I've created shows a woman holding a flower up to her face and gazing lovingly at it. I then decided to use this as inspiration for a simple message, which I've added to this image, that says ""Love the Little Things."" This is my way of saying that we should take time to smell the roses, so to speak, and appreciate the beauty all around us that often goes unnoticed. "
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, award-winning and self-taught artist Robert Padovano is best known for his vibrant Impressionistic cityscapes of New York and its surrounding environment. His paintings are characterized by vibrant use of color and expressive brush strokes often using both Impressionist and Pointillist techniques. Robert's paintings are part of many private and international collections. He has exhibited at The Staten Island Museum, The John A. Noble Maritime Museum, The Newhouse Gallery of Contemporary Art, The Union Gallery in Lambertville, New Jersy, The E. Mayan Studio in New York City, and many others. His work has been included in juried shows at The Salmagundi Club in New York and the American Artists Professional League. He has just been voted as one of the top 3 visual artists in the Staten Island Advance's Peoples Choice Awards. He is also an award-winning graphic artist, and has received numerous national and international design awards.
