Breathing life into every canvas, this Tony Portaro original acrylic painting is entitled A Pleasant Spinning Sensation. Tony will sign the piece after purchase.

Tony Portaro was given a guitar at age 5 by his adoptive parents. He grew up in Northern New Jersey, in a close-knit, extended family environment that gave him room to grow and experiment - at first, performing with his cousins at family gatherings, to then later, blasting the neighbors' walls off. By the early 80's, Tony was entrenched in music as his guiding star. He formed bands with friends, and when his talent outgrew theirs, he sought musicians who could play on his level. He attended Berklee College of Music where he embraced the theory behind the sounds he could evoke. Back home and intent on leading a band, he was introduced by a local college DJ to a bassist that became his counterpart, Tony Bono (R.I.P. 2002). Not intentionally, they drummed up another Tony, Scaglione, and the 3 Tony's became officially known as Whiplash, picking the name from a song on an album byWest Coast thrashers, Metallica. Thrash being a new genre full of force and aggression, Whiplash spun their energy into creating the East Coast thrash sound. Their demo caught the attention of several record labels, and the band decided to sign with Road Runner/Road Racer, who released their debut album, Power and Pain, in1985. Whiplash played their first show at Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley, CA, with Metallica in attendence. The scene in New York at the time was punk rock and hardcore, yet it welcomed thrashers, and the Whiplash power trio appeared regularly at venues like L'Amour and CBGB. Power and Pain is Tony's unselfish gift of music. Known today as one of the classic thrash albums of all time, its songs are still in demand world-wide on the heavy metal music scene, where veteran thrashers bring
their young, offspring metalheads to Whiplash shows. Going on four decades strong, Tony performs with an intensity driven by the power and the pain of his musical career.
"Expressing myself has always been easy through my music, and I have been doing just
that with my band Whiplash since 1984. But one day in 2016, I surprised myself with
a new outlet for expression - acrylic painting. I found a new passion while I was searching
online music videos and heard some background music on painting tutorials. I watched and was so intrigued by the building of brush strokes to create a finished work, much like how I build songs with notes. Never did I think I would devour painting with such ferocity as I had with my guitar. The paintings seemed to fly out of me like my thoughts. A whirlwind of sounds seemed to drip from my fingers just like my hand that plucked strings. Painting became the visualization of my music. I began breathing life into canvas, and my paintings were breathing life back into me.
I wish everyone could experience the freedom to let the paint dictate where it wants to take
you. It's not like drawing in between the lines - there's no rules."
- Tony Portaro
Or maybe there are no rules that can't be painted over.
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