Local Artist Feels Emotional Connection to His Work

Michael Thomas Calabro knew he wanted to be an artist as a teenager. He finally began painting around age 17, and has been following his dream since.

For Calabro, 26, the magic of art lies in its spirituality.

"I like the way it can move someone emotionally and spiritually," he said.

As an adolescent, Calabro explored many mediums of art, until he found oil. Now, he paints abstract figures, mostly in oil.

"I just fell in love with the paint and the whole process of oil painting," he said. "It’s a very freeing process that takes a lot of time and problem solivng to complete a painting."

Calabro said he loves the process of painting layer after layer, scraping, and reapplying more paint until he feels the painting is finally complete.

"Some are quick with almost like a gestural painting," he explained. "While others I could start, put away for a month and then finish a couple months later. The whole process could take three or four months for just one painting."

Calabro had his oil paintings on display at the River Vale Library, when he was asked to share his work with Westwood as well. He currently has 15 pieces, mainly abstract portraits of figures, up at the .

"My paintings have a relationship with themselves and a higher power," Calabro said. "They’re not completely abstract, they’re more representational abstract."

Each painting displays the figure's emotions through different colors and skin tones, he said.

"The sole reason to show my work is to start putting my stuff out there," Calabro said. "Not to just keep it for myself, but to let others feel the same emotions that I get from my own work."