Tad DeSanto is a self-taught artist in his seventies living in Louisville, Kentucky. He uses found materials - things he finds on Louisville’s streets & alleys - along with oil sticks, house paint, cardboard, acrylics, markers, pencils, cheesecloth, magazine cutouts, etc. to create mixed media ‘paintings.’ Throughout his life, he was always doodling, but didn’t show his work publicly until he was in his fifties.

DeSanto says, “Making something from nothing is magical. When the image I’ve created touches another person’s heart, I feel a special connection that is beyond words. My art takes me to another place where thoughts, memories and feelings collide. I want my work to make people think, smile and laugh. My aim is to encourage people to question the absurd realities of life in America: systemic racism, mindless consumerism, and the accelerating, life-threatening climate crisis.”