Stanley Sporny was born in Philadelphia in 1946, and he can remember wanting to be an artist at age eleven.  As a young adult, studying at the Philadelphia College of Art from 1964-68, he came under the influence of painter Sidney Goodman and ceramist William Daley. From 1969-72, at the University of Pennsylvania, he earned his MFA while under the direction of celebrated artists Neil Welliver, Red Grooms, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Elaine de Kooning, James Brooks, Paul Georges, and Larry Poons.

As the graduating representative for the University of Pennsylvania, and sponsored by Alex Katz, he spent the summer of 1972 at the prestigious Skowhegan School.   From Maine, Sporny traveled on a Fulbright Grant to Sri Lanka, (1972-75) and subsequently spent nine years there, building a
house and studio and starting a family. Because of terrorism and civil war, Sporny was forced to abandon "Serendib", and he moved back to the United States.  He has since taught at various Universities, including The University of Pennsylvania, Louisiana State University, University of Arkansas, and is now at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

Sporny will be a veteran of at least thirty solo exhibitions at the end of 2004, and he has participated in more than forty group shows, most of which were competitive, and several in which he won awards. He has lectured about his work at more than a dozen Universities, Museums, and workshops.

Collections include The National Museum of American Art, Utah Museum of Fine Art, AT&T, Leukin Company, Senator & Mrs. J.W. Fulbright, Arthur C. Clarke, Hodding Carter & Pat Derian, The Roger Ogden Collection-New Orleans.  Reviews number more than thirty and are very enthusiastic, in such publications as The Washington Post, The Washington Star, the Times-Picayune-New Orleans, and the New Art Examiner, and regional and local newspapers in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Stanley Sporny has described his work as, "Abstract Expressionism on a Realist framework".  Juicy treatment of the oil paint gives his pictures a palpable presence, and allows the viewer to participate vicariously.

Sporny has been basing the proportions of his paintings on the Renaissance ideal of the Golden Mean, a configuration he describes as, "The Math of God".  He has used a computer for the past several years to work out hundreds of geometric possibilities and designs, reaching a high plateau of realization even before touching the linen. The entire surface is reworked several times to the most engaging conclusion.

Aside from his long involvement with landscapes and cityscapes,  one of Sporny's series of  paintings features the tomfoolery of Mardi Gras in New Orleans and its topical themes.  These paintings also have historical connotations and art historical references.  Another project involves a $20,000.00 Federal Art-in-Architecture Grant for twelve waterscape paintings located in the new six-story addition to the Veterans Hospital in Huntington, West Virginia.  These were installed in November 1994.  (See article in Art Calendar - May 1994).

Sporny is involved in at least three central themes in his painting studio: Barriers in the landscape, water and the source of water, as seen in the Federal project, and he continues to do research for the next series of figural paintings -- Universal Themes and Public Dreams: Mythology in America From 1900 to Present -- the Mardi Gras/Carnival theme.

Recent Juried Exhibitions placed Sporny at the top spot three times in a row.  He won the Governor's $5,000. Purchase Prize at the West Virginia Biennial, Cultural Center, Charleston.  He won Best of Show at the 63rd Allied Artists Juried Exhibition, and he won First Prize at the Members Juried Show at SouthEastern Conference of Art Colleges, meeting in Louisville KY Oct. 2000.

Sporny has been awarded several Marshall University grants to pursue his various painting themes. As President of SCS Company, Sporny also won a grant for his non-toxic oil painting materials in connection with the state of West Virginia's program to formulate a proposal for the Environmental Protection Agency's Small Business Innovative Research agenda. SCS Company is the parent company for several ventures, including  and The Sporny Solution™ L.L.C. Sporny is one of the founding members of ART Coop; Art Research Technology Cooperative West Virginia.  

Sporny is collaborating with painters Laure Williamson  and Rhea Gary continuing with a traveling exhibition that first stopped in Alexandria Museum of Art in Louisiana, then went on to the Ashland Gallery in Kentucky. In mid September 2005, the three artists will exhibit as “The Landscape Redefined” in Wheeling WV at Oglebay Institute Gallery. Plans to organize the exhibit in Hurricane, WV Parkersburg, WV and Martinsburg and other venues are underway.