This year, Delbarton is blessed with ten artists in the Class of 2023 who shared their work at an AP Art Exhibit currently displayed in the FAC for the month of February. To give each talented young man the audience he deserves, we highlight each artist in our annual AP Artist Spotlight series.

Introducing our seventh featured artist, John Mattiola '23.

John says this about his art journey in his Artist Statement:

"My first memory of art is seeing my self-portrait displayed at the local Starbucks when I was five years old, which was a pretty big achievement for a kindergartener. Growing up, I had art classes in school and projects for presentations that displayed my creativity and personality. I always looked forward to these types of classes. But as I grew older, my aspirations for art faded away. However, I quickly remembered how much I loved art from the first sketchbook assignment Mr. Rodi assigned to my sophomore class. Shading, blending, darkening, erasing, it was all coming back to me."

For his Sustained Investigation, John drew on his love for architecture as his focus for this long-term project. "I have always had an interest in architecture. I was always building with legos, creating castles out of wood blocks, or stacking Lincoln Logs," he started. "I have also been inspired by artists, Hiroshi Nagai and David Hockney and their unique portrayals of buildings using geometric forms and flat colors. As my series developed, I was introduced to the artist Josef Albers. Inspired by Albers’ works, I began using the vibrancy and brilliance of different colors next to each other, creating illusions of depth and perspective."

Enjoy this collection of John's art below. We salute him and his fellow AP Art artists for their exceptional achievements in the arts at Delbarton this year! In case you missed the full AP Art Exhibition, click here to watch AP Studio Art Teacher Mr. Dom Rodi's video showcasing each artist's full body of work.