CPS All-City Visual Arts Exhibitions

Grade: 12

Materials: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: 28 x 22 inches

Artist Statement: My current work is focused on my younger siblings as they grow and develop. Looking for something positive amidst the personal difficulties and disappointments of the pandemic, I’ve found that I have really valued the time I’ve had with them. I wanted to capture their ideas of themselves and their surroundings — and the ways these intersect with broader experiences of adolescence. I explore the ways their wild competition and unspoken teamwork are emblematic of siblinghood and camaraderie more broadly. I am especially interested in themes of reminiscence, play, and coming-of-age.

I stage compositions with attention to ideas of play-acting and collection, because both of these are vital to a sense and expression of self through interactions with material surroundings — this is also reflected in my use of still life and vanitas structure and imagery. I use specific interior gathering spaces because they convey senses of the familiar and of home. Additionally, living and dining areas often contain family artifacts and curios, which also feature in my work. One of my interests is how the care and value that families place in maintaining objects like these make such a strong impression on children.

Stylistically, my work is inspired by artists prominent in 19th and 20th century portraiture, like Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, and Jaques Joseph Tissot. My work also references Renoir’s glimpses of casual recreation. I incorporate the ideas of atmosphere and paint-handling used by the Impressionists because they express movement and lend emotional character. My visual goals are to communicate complex, dramatic light and capture the vivid but moody sense of remembrance.

I often do underpaintings in acrylic to quickly organize color and value, but choose oil paint as my primary medium because it allows blending and layering translucent color and can be used to create an intricate structure of light. Additionally, oil painting, especially of portraits, has historical connotations of importance I want to lend to the people and settings I depict.