Curatorial Writings

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	Curatorial Writings 1. The Art of Klara Chavarría, By Carol Damian, PhD, Art Historian, Art Critic & Art Curator, United States. Through a process of self-reflection, Klara Chavarria creates her art with a distinct and recognizable focus on the universality of the human figure. Her style may be described as figurative abstract expressionism used to inform a personal quest for the answers to life’s mysteries. The ghostly figures that emerge from within each canvas are tall, inscrutable, and enduring as a tree in nature. Reinforcing a sense of anonymity, their simplified features have lost their identity, yet still, stand proudly amidst the complexity of modern life to serve as everyman and everywoman facing the future. They become symbols of eternal nature compelling humanity to strive for something beautiful and significant – the splendor of life. It is a positive commentary, despite what may at first appear as loneliness and isolation as solitary figures engage the viewer, and each other, in mutual confrontation and activation. Each work is personal and elicits a personal response for positive reinforcement of the relationship between humanity and the natural world. The artist sees her work as a poetic tribute to the unity of all humanity with its commonalities, not divisions. Painting becomes a metaphor for a spiritual journey and exploration of the human condition. With all the emotions that accompany us through life, Chavarria uses art to reflect upon how a simple image can be more expressive than complicated narratives. Over the years, she has experimented with a variety of media, colors, and graphic markings to enhance her aesthetic path to a visual message through abstraction. It is a process that often involves writing, either as inspiration for a composition’s beginning or within the work itself to capture her thoughts as she contemplates the environment and man’s often disastrous relationship to its existence. Each stroke of the brush is the mark of discovery, spontaneous and natural, that gives her art its energy. Not surprisingly, this mixed-media method can also extend out of the flat surface to works of sculpture, an integral part of her oeuvre for many years. Like the paintings, the sculptures focus on the figure, goddess-like abstractions from a primeval past that address age-old questions about the survival of the species and planet earth. Her works are meant to provoke a reaction and inspire a new understanding of humanity’s responsibilities to each other and to nature. However, we do not have to read a complex philosophical narrative into her works. Each one has a presence by itself as a painting about painting and how each application of pigment or collage material is an essential means of expression for any artist who seeks a unique solution to a creative process for personal reflection. Klara Chavarria as an artist of international accomplishment, brings a distinctive style and poetic vision that have informed a practice mastered over many years with eloquence and serious sense of purpose. Carol Damian, Ph.D. Art Historian Miami, FL, USA 2. By: Silvia Herrera Ubico Art Historian, Curator, Writer & Philosopher, Guatemala City, Central America.: Klara Chavarria Kepfer Klara lives in reality, but her mind and heart are in another dimension: The abyss of her soul. Her lifestyle consists of navigating between two states: Outside and inside, dark and light, question and answer, fall and restart, question and learn, bend and push, suffer and resist, with an effort to reach the synthesis of all things: Love. Her paintings, where figures drawn with black outlines predominate in a kind of expectation and dialogue with the environment, abound in symbols. The circles, backgrounds, objects, thresholds, and concavities refer to ambiguous states or experiences. All this is achieved through the psychological and vital exploration that painting facilitates. Her expressionist style presents textures, drips, circular brushstrokes, white areas, black spaces, and blurred colors. Her characters, anonymous and faceless, reflect a search for encounters, resonance, and order. The figures encourage conversations where they let the other speak, silence often as powerful as words. They are contemplative, wandering through intimate worlds of questions; they love, they try and they evolve in an endless search for knowledge. Her thirst to create, in total honesty with herself, has led Klara to a successful artistic career. The impact of her work is due to a conscious and cultivated spirituality that manages to achieve the wisdom of those who look beyond, constantly evolving. By: Silvia Herrera Ubico; Art Historian, Curator, Writer & Philosopher. Guatemala City, Central America. Artist Statement "In my work the human becomes line and form tracing toward the source, eliminates any distraction or definition and aligns concern and question with my need for observation and the contemplation of life. I have an interest in the essence of our human self and not in any exterior definitions or characterizations." Klara Chavarria "The concept of the work is an exploratory exercise in awareness, imploring us to look beyond the surface. Through the layering of ideas and experiences, it alludes to a life so blindly entrenched in its own ways, particularly emphasizing the distinction between what is, what one hopes and what ought to be..." Klara Chavarria “The work explores our shared human experiences and the mystery of life. I am interested in capturing the rawness in life, moments, thoughts, experiences, relationships, deep emotions, feelings and how these influence our existence. The process in an exploration to answer my questions. An inner search into the mysterious and spiritual aspects of our lives and how it is all connected to our physical world. The work reflects a deep interest in our human condition, our yearnings and a search for purpose. I am interested in making some of the invisible visible and the intangible tangible. A deep interest in the mystery of life, our humanity, our essence, what unites us and what we share. © Copyright \| Klara Chavarria. All Rights Reserved. © All images, artwork & text are full copyright and property of the artist and may not be copied or reproduced.