Joe Ciardiello

Early life and education

Ciardiello was born in 1953 in Staten Island, New York. His grandparents were Italian immigrants who settled on the Island and his parents were born there as well. His father, Joseph A. Ciardiello was the youngest of four boys. He operated a dental practice in Staten Island., but also had a lifelong interest in drawing.

Ciardiello attended a Catholic grammar school and was accepted into the High School of Art and Design. When Ciardiello was a senior in high school, he was setting his sights on becoming a cartoonist, until Murray Tinkelman came to the school as a guest lecturer. After hearing his lecture and looking at his drawings, Ciardiello decided that Tinkelman's approach as an illustrator offered more possibilities for him than cartooning. When he enrolled in the Parsons School of Design, it was as an illustration major. At Parsons he met his second important influence on his work, his figure drawing instructor, Jim Spanfeller through whom he learned a love of drawing in an expressive way. Other instructors at Parsons included Bernie D’Andrea, Lorraine Fox and Maurice Sendak. Ciardiello would graduate from Parson in 1974 and receive his BFA in 1975.

Artistic influences

Apart from Tinkelman and Spanfeller, Ciardiello's early artistic influences came primarily from illustrators who were working at the time, such as Alan Cober and Leonard Baskin. The artist also drew inspiration from the work of Egon Schiele, who was an early 20th century Austrian artist.

Getting started

Ciardiello's work first appeared in print in 1974 during his senior year in college, in Crawdaddy Magazine, who's offices were a few blocks from Parsons and which Rolling Stone credited with being the first serious journal dedicated to rock and roll. The illustration was a black and white depiction of Lenny Bruce. Another early client who published Ciardiello was Penthouse Magazine. Scholastic Magazines was also an early client for the young artist. His first piece accepted into the Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibition was in 1975.

Professional life

In the late 1980s, Ciardiello began work on a series of black and white drawings of his favorite jazz musicians, such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk and others. The drawings were compiled into a book, with poems by John Kruth, and art directed by Patrick Flynn. The book, titled Like Jazz was published in 1992.

After the publication of Like Jazz, the artist began illustrating for the Capitol Blues Collection for Capitol Records, which lead to 23 illustrated volumes, including the first in the series T-BONE WALKER The Complete Capitol / Black & White Recordings (1995)[1] and the last in that series, CAPITOL BLUES #23: VARIOUS ARTISTS Chicago Blues Masters Volume Three (1997).[2]

In 1999, Ciardiello had a one-man exhibition of his works Portraits of Blues and Other Images at the Museum of American Illustration, which is housed by the Society of Illustrators, New York City.

In 2016, Ciardiello won the Hamilton King Award, which is the highest award the Society of Illustrators can bestow to a member. The award was presented on behalf of the artist's work illustrating the book On The Snap by Brian Case.

Working process

In Ciardiello's portraiture work, which he is most known for, the artist will gather as many photographs of his subject as possible. After this, the process can can go one of two ways, either to preliminary sketches on tracing paper, which is then placed on a light box where the drawing is transferred to paper or alternately the artist will frequently go directly to a finished drawing in pen and ink, without preliminary sketches. The artist primarily works with a Rapidograph pen, and occasionally a dip pen. Finished works are created on watercolor paper.

Even though the artist works from photographs, he strives to achieve an emotional likeness or truth, an expressive quality that transcends the photo, where the finished work is less focused on the likeness and more about a feeling of the subject.

Complilations and Annuals

The artist has been represented in many books and art annuals. Below is a short list.

Personal life

Ciardiello lives in New Jersey, near the Delaware River with his wife, artist Susan Blubaugh. He contributes original works for auction to support such charities as The Drawing Dreams Foundation, The Printing Center of New Jersey and veterans charities.

The artist also plays drums with the bands Kane Trio and The Half-Tones. The Half-Tones is an all-illustrator band consisting of Barry Blitt, Richard A. Goldberg, Hal Mayforth, Robert Saunders, Michael Sloan, and James Steinberg.