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My name is Eric Alexander Santoli and I'm a painter and teacher. I'm a BFA graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a certificate recipient of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2024, I received my MA in Studio Art from the Florence Academy of Art.
I began teaching in 2015 and I currently enjoy teaching workshops across the US and abroad. For more information, please visit my Teaching Page. In May of 2021, I was awarded the Versailles Foundation's prestigious Munn Fellowship Artist Residency Award. For this Fellowship, I lived as Artist-in-Residence at Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny, France from May until August of 2023. As a portrait artist, I work with high-level portrait agents to create commissioned portraits, often traveling to meet with clients. For more information, please visit my Portraiture Page. In 2025, I began producing and hosting Eric En Plein Air, an instructional art and travel program for Public Television. While demonstrating the principles of art, our series also highlights organizations, locations and environments with an emphasis on appreciating, supporting and preserving nature and wildlife. In addition to painting, I enjoy being outdoors, gardening, reading, writing, traveling, skateboarding and riding my Triumph Bonneville T100. |
Enniskillen, N. Ireland
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Artist's Statement
"As a painter, my goal is to give viewers of my work a feeling that they can’t get by any other means. I paint works in oil and watercolor, working directly from nature; one of my motivations to work from life is to create my own memories, which I record in paint. Each painting becomes a key which unlocks a memory of a specific moment. Many of my works are painted with speed and spontaneity in order to capture these moments.
I love painting en plein air (outdoors), but I also have an affinity for portraiture and figurative work. I enjoy studying whatever catches my eye regardless of subject matter; I especially enjoy the challenge of rendering various textures, surfaces and reflections to create an illusion. I am well versed in art history and have a deep respect for artists of the past who have inspired me, many of whom combined academic and impressionistic ideas. I am fascinated by the ideas and methodology of impressionism, but I find that they work best when applied to a solid foundation of atelier training. With oils, I like exploring paint quality from thin and fluid to thick (impasto) and textured.
I want viewers to see my work in person and to respond to each brushstroke. I personally love going to museums and seeing artists’ brushstrokes in person because it makes me feel like I have a direct connection with the moment that they created the painting. I think of painting as an alchemical meditation and as a way of appreciating the moment; I want to capture that moment of light and color as best as I can with paint."
I love painting en plein air (outdoors), but I also have an affinity for portraiture and figurative work. I enjoy studying whatever catches my eye regardless of subject matter; I especially enjoy the challenge of rendering various textures, surfaces and reflections to create an illusion. I am well versed in art history and have a deep respect for artists of the past who have inspired me, many of whom combined academic and impressionistic ideas. I am fascinated by the ideas and methodology of impressionism, but I find that they work best when applied to a solid foundation of atelier training. With oils, I like exploring paint quality from thin and fluid to thick (impasto) and textured.
I want viewers to see my work in person and to respond to each brushstroke. I personally love going to museums and seeing artists’ brushstrokes in person because it makes me feel like I have a direct connection with the moment that they created the painting. I think of painting as an alchemical meditation and as a way of appreciating the moment; I want to capture that moment of light and color as best as I can with paint."