Margaret Chiaro

          

In an increasingly technological world, I find myself more and more drawn to the crafted, handmade, or one-of-a-kind. To see the emotion, the labor, the technique, the hand of an object’s creator is so valuable to me. Abundance and automation have made art or artistically designed objects as cheap and accessible as a plastic chair. Automation and technology have focused on accessibility and abundance of “art and craft” objects, with almost no attention to the ART or CRAFT of its originator.

 

“Abundance has satisfied, and even over-satisfied the material needs of millions – boosting the significance of beauty and emotion and accelerating individuals’ search for meaning,” (Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind).

           

In my observation of human nature, I am delighted to find a wealth of inspiring individuals with very different faces and expressions as well as an array actions, interactions, and reactions. The human mind and its experiences, emotions, desires, aversions, indifferences, and memories, are completely singular. Even when one tries to completely control one’s words and actions, at some point instincts take over. These moments are what I seek to honor.

            

While I love photography that documents emotion and stark reality like that of Diane Arbus or Weegee; I strive through figurative painting to allow the viewer to take comfort in seeing a fellow human to experience the surreal.

The human figure is the most integral component to my work. Whatever my source, the person is extracted from its surroundings and placed in an environment that I feel emulates their expressive qualities, supporting or interacting with the subject.

Anatomy, composition, and experimentation are the foundations of my process. The human body is amazing and extremely complex. Proportions, as well as the nuances of the flesh are, again, individualistic. To depict the intricacies of the human subject, I feel it is crucial to understand the support and framework of the skeletal system, the layers and functions of the muscular system, the beautiful array of flesh tones and qualities, and the expressiveness of the face and hands. All these elements formulate the identity and individual humanistic qualities of the subject.

When composing a painting, I tend towards a simple set of rules. First, balance over symmetry. I enjoy combining realistic and abstracted elements, utilizing whatever reinforces the conceptual goal. The challenge is to find a balance: fusing or morphing these real and surreal elements to make sense to the viewer.

Second, no dead-ends. In other words, I attempt to have continual paths of interest that lead the viewer through the painting but never have an end point.

Third, angles. I have always been attracted to images that have overlapping layers of angles. I feel this activates the viewer’s senses more than the weight of a horizontal or vertical composition.

Experimentation is what drives me. With each painting, I strive to make discoveries in technique and concept. There are infinite possibilities when it comes to color mixing, palette choice, brushwork, surface treatment, mediums, size and shape and I plan to continue to learn, explore, experiment, and play.

Every painting is one-of-a-kind like the subject depicted and viewer engaged. I continue to push myself forward, striving to pay homage to the idiosyncrasies of human nature, while presenting a question, a story, a new idea: an experience.