Patrick Schiavino Il Maestro di Asbury Park

“I like Seurat and Chuck Close because of the way they break down an image into the smallest particle and make it reappear as a realistic painting when you walk away from it.”

Before he bought his Cookman Ave building to have more space to create his art in 2000, Patrick Schiavino’s last major exhibition was in 1998, when he was invited by music icon Sting, and tennis great John McEnroe, to participate in a fundraising art show at the John McEnroe Gallery in Soho benefiting the Rain Forest Foundation. The show raised over $30,000 for the charity.

Since that artistic milestone, Patrick has enjoyed a very successful interim as one of the premier developers of downtown Asbury Park. Today his Cookman Avenue building is widely known as art629 Gallery, a commercial art gallery and event center on the street level that regularly showcases both internationally and locally recognized artists. His workspace and personal residence are located in the lofts which are on the second and third floors of that building.

Schiavino is also the founder and owner of ‘Asbury Underground’ – a grassroots art and music crawl, blending these two mediums in 18 downtown venues and drawing as many as 2,000 attendees twice a year (January and October).

“During last season’s event, produced in affiliation with the Light of Day Foundation, the publisher and president of the Asbury Park Press, (our title sponsor), came to my gallery for some of the music and saw my work,” recounts Schiavino. “He told me he was in the process of building out new corporate headquarters, and that he liked my work, and would call me. He did call, and now I am doing the project for them. It will take me the better part of this year to complete.”

“It’s a great opportunity for me, especially at this time of my life, when I am looking to do art full time again. The timing has been perfect, and I am very grateful that my work will be showcased in the entrance of their new headquarters in Neptune,” he concludes.