Tony Conrad

Tony Conrad received his MFA degree in painting and drawing from the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2009. Conrad’s work has been exhibited throughout the United States in various solo, group, and invitational exhibitions and has won several awards including the Lawrence Rathsack Scholarship and the Frederick R. Layton Fellowship. Conrad is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Lawrence University where he has taught painting and drawing since 2012.

Conrad's work is influenced by various cultural and historical disciplines including Persian textiles, Zen Buddhism, and Jazz Music. Conrad is particularly drawn to the improvisation and repetitive elements central to these disciplines. In these works, layers of information form a palimpsest of color, pattern, balance, and rhythm. Compositional complexity develops as color is reactively woven in layers. This puzzle-like “construction zone” develops a quiet history where chaos and harmony coexist.