Michael Aviano has been drawing since childhood. His first oil paintings were done when he was in junior high school. In the 1940's, Aviano applied to the Art Students League, NYC, where the school director Steward Klonis was so impressed by the young Aviano's talent that he immediately enrolled him in Frank J. Reilly's painting class. This was an honor as it often took up to two years to gain entrance into Reilly's classes. (Frank J. Reilly had studied with the famous League teacher Frank Vincent Dumond (American 1865-1951), who in turn studied under Benjamin Constant (1845-1902), Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911) and Gustave Boulanger (1824-1888), important painters of the French Academic Tradition).

During his years at the Art Students League, Aviano received annual scholarships and awards for his excellence in painting.

He began exhibiting his work in New York in the 60's and built a reputation as a portrait and still life painter. The 1970's brought Michael to Grand Central Art Galleries, NYC, the country's premier gallery of American Realism. There his work was shown alongside such masters as Emil Carlsen, John Singer Sargent, George Inness, William Merritt Chase and contemporaries including David Leffel, Richard Schmid, Charles Pfahl, and Priscilla Roberts.

The catalog cover and invitation for the 59th Annual Founders Exhibition at Grand Central Galleries featured Aviano's painting "The Collector". As the 1980's came to an end, so, too, did the era of Grand Central Art Galleries.

The early 1990s brought Aviano to an important crossroads in his life as a painter. He decided that he would no longer paint portraits but would continue teaching and paint an occasional floral still life (for which there is great demand from collectors. He decided to focus his primary energies on creating important figure paintings.

Aviano lives a very private and spiritual life, which is devoted to painting. His larger works such as Mars and Venus can take up to three years to reach their conclusion.

EDUCATION:
The Art Students League, NYC 4 year scholarship
Instructors: Frank J. Reilly, Ivan Olinsky, Edwin Dickenson

TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
Teacher Assistant to Mr. Frank J. Reilly, Art Students League, NYC
New York Academy of Art, Graduate School of Figurative Art
Aviano Academy of Fine Arts

FOUNDED:Aviano Academy of Fine Arts, NYC

MEMBERSHIPS:
American Artists Professional League
Salmagundi Club
Hudson Valley Art Association
Portrait Painters of America

EXHIBITIONS:
59th Annual Founders Exhibition, Grand Central Galleries, NYC.
26th Annual Juried Exhibition of Art, Parrish Art Museum, NY.
National Academy of Design NYC
Salmagundi Club, NYC.
National Arts Club, NYC.
Hudson Valley Art Association, NY.
Union League Club, NYC.

MUSEUMS
Parrish Art Museum, South Hampton, NY.
Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA.
S.U.N.Y. Plattsburgh Art Museum, NY.
Museum of the City Of New York

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
State University of New York, Utica, NY,
Plattsburgh Art Museum, Jeremyn Davern Collection.
Hunter College, City University of New York, Portrait of Dean Jacqueline Wexler.
Susquehanna University, PA.,
Portrait of Charles Degenstein, Benefactor.
Lord Abbett & Co.

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS: (partial listing)
Mr. and Mrs. Timothy Beard, NYC
Madame Susan DeLooz, Paris, France
Mr. and Mrs. Alan Funt, NYC
Mr. Robert Morsebacker, NYC
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wieder, NYC.
Mr. and Mrs. Terry Coulson, Bath, England
Mr. William Middendorf III, Greenwich, Ct.
Madame Janine Guenin, Paris, France
Mr. and Mrs. Don Nelson, Greenwich, Ct.
Senor and Senora Serafino Rossi, Manciana, Italy.