The focus of Scott Cilmi's paintings has been to create a sense of energy and spirit through color, composition, line and shape. The energy can be loud and powerful or quiet and subtle. He is most interested in using juxtapositions of color and exploring how layers affect one another.

The new paintings continue and expand upon visual abstraction as an evolving language/ non-language in which the painter and the audience correspond and share ideas with each other regarding mutual consciousness and the inner-self. He has recently embarked on a new series of Haiku paintings, exploring the combination of visual and literary poetry.

Cilmi was born in Ohio but grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, attending the Tyler School of Art. He received his BFA in 1985. His work has been influenced by all of the great abstract artists of the 19th and 20th century especially; Diebenkorn, Motherwell, Rothko, Pollack, Gorky, DeKooning, Klee and Kandinsky. His paintings carry on the rich tradition of non-representational painting.