Anthony Cudahy

Anthony Cudahy (born 1989) is a contemporary American painter known for his figurative compositions that blend abstraction and realism, drawing from a diverse sources including personal photographs, queer archival imagery, art history, and cinematic stills.^[1][2][3][4] Based in Brooklyn, New York, Cudahy explores themes of intimacy, vulnerability, queer identity, and the interplay between past and present through layered painting.^[5] His paintings are known for their tender and complex depictions of human experience, often rendered in luminous, phosphorescent colors and fluid brushstrokes that give his scenes a dreamlike quality.^[6][7]

Anthony Cudahy
Born	1989 (age 35–36) Fort Myers, Florida
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting
Website	anthonycudahy.com

Life and education

Anthony Cudahy was born in 1989 in Fort Myers, Florida.^[8] His upbringing in Florida influences his work, with natural elements such as flora and light often appearing as recurring motifs.^[6] Seeking broader artistic opportunities, Cudahy relocated to New York City, where he pursued his formal education in the arts. In 2011, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.^[1][2][3] He returned to school to complete a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at Hunter College in New York in 2020.^[1][2][3][9] Cudahy lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, with his husband, photographer, Ian Lewandowski.^[1][2][3]

Residencies

Cudahy was an artist-in-residence at the ARTHA Project, Brooklyn Navy Yards, New York in 2013-14.^[10]

Artistic style and themes

Cudahy’s work occupies a space between figuration and abstraction.^[11] The subjects of his paintings are often human figures — solitary or in pairs — set within ambiguous, atmospheric environments such as domestic interiors, natural landscapes, or social gatherings.^[12][13] The scenes in his paintings often present an ambiguous narrative which invites viewers to interpret the emotional and historical content.^[14] Cudahy's paintings are often a hybrid of visual histories blending various figures from art history and queer photography into contemporary scenes such as portraiture, domestic spaces, or social sites.^[15]

Central to Cudahy’s oeuvre are themes of queer identity, tenderness, and the continuum of experience across time.^[9][11] His works often depict intimate moments — lovers embracing, figures in quiet reflection — that speak to the nuances of human connection.^[15] Trauma and hope coexist in his paintings, as he examines how personal and collective histories shape the present.^[16][13] By reimagining forgotten or marginalized stories, particularly those tied to queer experience, Cudahy constructs allegories that resonate with both specificity and universality.^[16] Cudahy draws inspiration from an eclectic archive that includes personal snapshots, film stills, computer screenshots, queer historical photographs, and art-historical references ranging from medieval tapestries to the works of Pieter Bruegel and William Blake.^[9][4] Lewandowski, also contributes to this archive, notably through the inclusion of images from Cudahy’s great-uncle Kenny Gardner.^[17] This interplay of personal and collective memory allows Cudahy to recontextualize the past, addressing contemporary issues through a historical lens.^[17]

Cudahy’s painterly technique is as important as his thematic subjects.^[17] He employs a range of methods — fluid brushstrokes, thick impasto, delicate mark-making, and vibrant patterning — to create compositions that feel both spontaneous and crafted.^[5][17] His use of phosphorescent colors, often glowing as if lit from within, give his works an ethereal quality, while his handling of paint serves as a narrative tool in itself.^[5][9]

Alongside his paintings, Cudahy produces colored pencil drawings, a medium that reflects his meticulous attention to detail and complements the emotive intensity of his canvases.^[5][14]

Career and exhibitions

Cudahy’s first solo exhibition, Heaven Inside, was at Uprise Art Outpost in Chelsea, New York, in 2014. His early works already demonstrated his signature style: washed-out figures rendered with emotional depth against vibrant, abstracted backgrounds.^[1][2][3]

Solo exhibitions

• Spinneret, (2024): Cudahy’s first U.S. museum solo exhibition debuted at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine,^[18] later traveling to the Green Family Art Foundation in Dallas, Texas.^[19] Accompanied by a comprehensive monograph published by Phaidon, the exhibition explored five thematic threads—slippages, allegories, fragments, figures, and spaces—highlighting the conceptual and material richness of his practice over the past half-decade.
• Fool's Errand, Grimm Gallery, London, UK, 2024^[20]
• Fool’s Gold, Hales Gallery, New York, NY, 2024^[21]
• Conversation, 2023: His first solo institutional show in Europe, held at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dole in France, marked a milestone in his international presence.^[5]
• Double Spar, 2023: A dual exhibition at Hales Gallery and GRIMM in London, this project featured iterative paintings that responded to one another across venues, showcasing his interest in narrative mutation.^[22][23][24]
• Anthony Cudahy, Flames, Semiose Gallery, Paris, FR, 2021^[25]
• Coral Room, 2021: Presented at Hales Gallery in New York, this show solidified his reputation for blending personal and poetic elements in masterful compositions.^[26]
• Anthony Cudahy, The Moon Sets A Knife, Semiose Gallery, Paris, FR, 2021^[27]
• Anthony Cudahy: Burn Across the Breeze, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY, 2021^[28]
• Night Paintings, 1969 Gallery, New York, NY, 2018^[29]
• The Gathering, The Java Project, Brooklyn, NY, 2018^[30]
• NARSOLIPS, Cooler Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2016^[31]
• EatF_3, Mumbo's Outfit, within Geary Contemporary, New York, NY, 2016^[32]
• The Fourth Part of the Day, Farewell Books, Austin, TX, 2015^{[additional citation(s) needed]}
• Recent Work, Artha Project Space, Long Island City, NY, 2015^[10]
• Heaven Inside, Uprise Art Outpost, Chelsea, NY, 2014^[33]

Public collections

Cudahy’s paintings are held in several major public collections worldwide, reflecting their cultural and artistic value.^[1][2][3] Notable institutions include:

• Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland^[34]
• Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA^[35]
• Dallas Museum of Art, TX^[36]
• Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Florida^[37]
• Kunstmuseum,The Hague, the Netherlands^[38]
• Les Arts au Mur Artothèque, Pessac, France^[39]
• Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, Paris, France^[40]
• New York Historical Society, New York, NY^[41]
• Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY^[42]
• Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands^[43]