Tony Meoli

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/anthony-meoli.html

To be clear, I do 100% of the designs, but I have a glass-blower who completes my visions.  Glass-blowing takes 20-30 years to perfect, so I cannot compete with that, so I use his expertise in that arena, I do the designing – sort of like Jeff Koons.  All the designs below are mine, original, and one of a kind.  Each can take 3-4 weeks to complete.  War Woman took about 5 weeks of heating, cooling, reheating, etc.  Black glass is not cheap either – at $15 a foot, and a foot of heated glass does not go far when you consider how much is lost.  Cracking can occur, ruining a piece, as it did on two of them, so we had to start over.

I have had these appraised by gallery owners who are amazed by their appearance in person.  They want to put prices in excess of $3000 each.  I prefer to make them available to everyone who wants one, or who can afford to save to purchase a piece.  I do not want to be that artist who asks $25,000 for a piece, that to me is ridiculous and pretentious.  Because 4 years ago, you were selling stuff on Ebay for $300 and now you want $25,000.00 because you got lucky?  No…..

I am down to earth, straight talking, have a degree in criminal justice, a law degree and am pursuing a Masters of Arts in Forensic Psychology, with the intent on completing my doctorate in psychology.  So my pieces are few and far between, making them that much more rare.  I began creating in 2009 and have 6 pieces to date.

As I come up with ideas that I think should be created into glass, I bring them to my glass-blower and we DUAL SIGN each piece.

When did you first become interested in art?

Very early on, was probably doodling in class when I was 5

What style of art do you use most?

Surrealism

Has your style changed from when you first began as an artist?

Yes, it has matured to be more acceptable to a wider audience

What medium do you use?

Glass, Paper, Watercolors

What made you choose that medium?

I chose to create my designs in glass because it is unique, 3D and you can touch/feel the work – unlike a painting

Do your ideas come from life or imagination?

Imagination

How do you choose your images and colours?

Sour of the moment

Who is your favourite artist?

Dali, Robert Deyber

What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?

War Woman.

Here is my original hand drawn design for War Woman……

Thom Lillie (glass blower) and I dual sign each sculpture, dual sign each original sketch, and I affix my thumbprint to each sketch when done – an added memento for the collector, and in line with my forensic psychology background …. because a signature is not really the artist touching the piece, it is his pen touching the piece.

Here I actually have touched each sketch and they have the actual fingerprint of the artist which I find sort of interesting…..

This piece took over 4 weeks to create and broke three times.  You cannot touch up glass, you have to start all over – so we did, three times.  Each piece was done over time, then the body reheated to accept each new addition (which is very risky) and then refired over and over to bring out the red and green.  Then we obtained some rare Arizona wood to mount it and what you have is among the most talked about pieces in my entire house, and I did it.

I have over 100 pieces of artwork in my house, from Warhol to Chagall to Dali to Deyber to Cheret.  This piece grabs people’s attention.

How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?

3 weeks

How well do you take criticism?

Very, I need it for my pieces

What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?

Just stop designing for a few days

How do you know something is ‘finished’?

It is just done, nothing more can be completed to me.  Simplicity is my key element.

Have you had exhibits in galleries?

Yes, local store galleries, no real luck

Have you any exhibits in galleries planned for the future?

Not at present

What are your plans for the future?

I do not want fame, I do not want fortune, I simply want to provide rare (maybe 12-15 pieces all year) sculptures to medium collectors ($500-$3000 each) and people can get them as they come out.  If they sell, they are gone – no lithographs, no giclees, nothing.  That is what I love about glass, it is a one-off, touchable, piece of work.  The collector knows that he/she is the only one in the world with this particular piece, and almost none of my sculptures will look like the next.

What advice would you give new artists?

Keep creating

Have you done any courses to help you?

I am self taught

What do you do to market your work?

Internet

Do you use social networking in your day to day life?

Facebook

Are you available for work (commissions)?

Yes

Have you got hobbies?

Guitar, writing to serial killers/inmates (primarily death row inmates, for 12 years now), forensic psychology and true crime, history, remote controlled helicopters/cars, true crime collecting

Where are you based?

Atlanta, Georgia