Flame Azalea by John Funt, 2024 (39" x 52")

Born in 1953 in New York City, John is the son of the late Allen Funt, creator and longtime host of the TV program Candid Camera. John studied art with sculptor Rhys Caparn at the Dalton School in New York and with painter Joseph Slate at Kenyon College in Ohio. He later worked as a designer of events for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then as a designer for Tiffany & Company. For many years since, John has devoted himself to painting. He is based in Norfolk, Connecticut.

"I literally divide my time between the studio and the adjoining greenhouse and garden—both provide a needed refuge. I will take a plant cutting to the easel and paint/study it. I celebrate patterns in leaves, petals, textiles and happily disappear into the process!

So often a painting is a simplification of ideas. For me it is a process of editing and as such requires an initial complexity of color and detail which is painted over or refined. I seem to never tire of the simple forms of flower pots and vases and the elegance of leaves: green has always been the anchor."