Salvatore Princ

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Principe’s career as an artist wasn't born from this lofty proclamation. It would take ten years as a working artist and a life-shattering tragedy before Salvatore found and accepted his soul's desire, "to paint the world with love." Yet, Principe has always been a passionate zealot with an impossibly idealistic view of how the world should be. Born in New York City in 1959, Salvatore Principe was raised in midtown Manhattan in a larger-than-life Italian family. Big brother to two fiery sisters and doted on by a loving mother and protective father, the son of Adam and Anita Principe was bent on blazing his own trail even in adolescence. A natural athlete but never an academic, Principe’s early accomplishments were usually physical feats. Even his own parents thought he might find success as a professional soccer or tennis player. But fate had another plan and unpredictability would become a familiar team in the life of the unlikely artist. "I left high school early, bored and frustrated and feeling that I let my parents down," says Principe in an upublished memoir of his career. "But school just couldn’t contain me. Depending on the subject matter, I either had too many questions or no interest at all. My mother was disappointed. My father was furious. And my sisters, well, they're Italian and they're my sisters, so they really let me have it too." Feeling like a failure, but following instinct, Salvatore traded school for a new playground in the streets of New York. He partied, made diverse friends and became a regular attraction on roller skates in Central Park, competing with other skaters for the most impressive moves on eight wheels. Soon, he landed a job at Studio 54 - smack in the middle of its heyday. The illustrious discotheque was the gold standard of discos, and the job would ultimately give Principe some unexpected work experience that would turn out to be invaluable later in life. But first, he served as a bar back, slinging ice, washing glasses and hauling trash through dense, gyrating crowds to the back alley dumpster. With an undeniable eye for aesthetics and tireless perseverance, Salvatore eventually earned a job assisting the lighting technician, all the while surrounded by some of the most famous partiers of the time, including Andy Warhol, Debbie Harry, Mick & Bianca Jagger, Calvin Klein, Halston, Valentino Garavani, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor and anyone else with serious clout and a desire to see and be seen. Almost three years later, his lighting experience landed Principe a job at The Underground, the next “It” club of the early eighties. But he would last there only two years. Weary of the scene and its empty lifestyle of booze, drugs and abandoned inhibitions, Salvatore longed for something more fulfilling and quit in pursuit of a deeper meaning to his existence. “I’d been lucky enough to meet and hang out with some amazing people but in such a destructive lifestyle. I had this overwhelming need to create instead,” he explains. And create is what he did. With no training and no real tools, Salvatore Principe began creating art from objects mostly found in New York City roadside trash heaps.

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