Artist Statement
ART is a little word. To some, it has seemingly endless definitions and encompasses all those things that set us apart from the other animals.
ART in my opinion? EVOCOMOTUS! To call forth feeling.
ART is expression, evocation, emotion, and an eloquent or elucidating elocution of each of these. Art speaks, art cries or demands, it makes you feel, it makes you think or makes you laugh. It doesn’t just lie there.
What about my ART? I think in pictures, see pictures, envision and paint pictures. Pictures of dreams, mythological stories, emotional states, life changing choices, historical or political inferences, capturing the unique likeness of one singular person, or one singular moment in time – in real or imagined space. I paint pieces incorporating humans, because I am human and relate to the emotional clues and signals of other humans; they intrigue me, excite me, repulse me.
Do these pictures have a story behind them? Yes they do, but I prefer not to explain them too much. I would rather invite the viewer to conjure their own stories making the experience more personal. There are no right or wrong interpretations
I have learned and continue to learn from the masters; studying their work, their words, outside of any academic setting. This study and practice through time has allowed my hands to trust the directions from my mind’s eye, where my own visions coalesce.
Why Oil on panel? Oils and wood. History, earth. I don’t care for the opacity, the plastic consistency, the smell of acrylics. Oils can be toxic. Like life. Oils are sensual. Like love. Wood doesn’t bounce under my brush, allowing the pigment, suspended in oil, to glide over the smooth sanded gesso surface, layer upon layer. This layering utilizes the light properties of oil, bringing a luminous quality to the pieces.
I’ve used a plethora of words here, but in short: Venio, video, creo.
Christine Cianci - 2006
