Meet Vincent Salvati

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vincent Salvati a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vincent, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

For me, confidence comes from effort and time. In something like art, the 10,000-hour rule figures prominently. The more time spent developing the skills needed to create a painting—drawing, balance, scale, the understanding of light and color, etc.—the more confident in your abilities you become. At a certain point, I stopped wondering if I could create the image in my head and just knew that I would do it. That freed me up to explore and push the creativity without self-doubt. In the end, regardless of success or failure, I had confidence that I could make it work.

Self-esteem is a bit different. I think it varies widely for people. For me the confidence helped boost my self-esteem, but those do not always correlate. For many artists there is a deep drive to achieve something that may not be within reach, some metaphorical holy grail. Missing the mark time and again can certainly have a negative effect on self-esteem. Confidence is task-specific and rooted in skill. Meanwhile self-esteem encompasses a broader sense of self-worth, which might not always align with accomplishments.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My work is mostly abstract in nature and comes from a desire to share emotion through paint, to say the things I can’t say in any other way. My painting is about conveying a feeling, about sparking interest, about finding beauty. I want to contribute to the long lineage of what came before me—the art, the artists, and the greater conversation.
My practice focuses on works in a series. Typically, I create between 10 and 25 works on canvas and/or paper. They are connected thematically, and the process allows me to explore color, surface, and structure—to really dive into an idea and push it as far as I feel I can. Each painting has a relationship with each other painting. I often work on multiple pieces at a time as opposed to finishing one piece before starting the next. Through this process, the works grow together. This all allows me to come out the other side with a fuller understanding and broader perspective of what the work is about.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

For me, discipline, resilience, and passion have been the underlying qualities throughout my career.
I never took my art for granted or my ability to create art. This gave me the discipline to stay focused on my work. Sometimes that meant working when I didn’t feel like it or pushing through a creative block. If I had been lazy, I don’t think I would have developed as an artist the way I have.
Secondly, resilience, especially at the beginning. In the arts, rejection is the default. If you let it get to you, you have already lost. Letting it slide off and continuing on your own personal journey is half the battle. I admit that this might not be as easy as it sounds, but it’s important to keep in mind that art is subjective and not everyone will get what you are trying to do right away.
Finally, passion. Everything else sits on top of this one unique quality. When you have a deep passion for something, resilience comes easy and discipline is a constant. It is the passion that drives you, that makes you never question why you are doing it.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

While both approaches have value, I believe focusing on your strengths while incorporating exploration fosters creativity and deeper growth. I’ve dedicated my life to exploring abstract painting and drawing, immersing myself in the techniques and iterations of this historic medium, and it has suited me well. That said, I’ve also studied many other mediums, art forms, concepts, and perspectives. These explorations enrich my painting practice, adding depth and nuance to my work.
Experimenting is vital to my growth as an artist. For example, while my work is primarily abstract, I’ve spent much of my life studying the figure and figurative art. I love drawing the human form, and elements of figurative art—such as volume and movement—have subtly influenced my abstract pieces.
By focusing on your strengths while remaining open to experimentation, you create a dynamic balance that encourages both mastery and discovery. For me, this balance has been the foundation of my artistic journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vincentsalvati.wixsite.com/artist
• Instagram: vincent_salvati