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 Artist statement:
I grew up on a farm in Spencer, MA and am the youngest of three. My mother's mother, Constance Mahaney, was a patron of the arts. There were many paintings hung in my grandparents' home, but the one I loved the most was of an alleyway leading out to a courtyard with a statute of a man on a horse. It was the dark blues along with the warm yellows that inspired me.
I didn't formally study art until I was in college. Marci Gintis was my painting professor and was a huge inspiration. Seeing her paintings in a gallery - those political paintings that were so beautifully executed that addressed the theme of mankind's depravity to one another during wartime - caused me to start looking at the world and to consider what my own contribution to it would be.
I primarily work with oils and charcoals, but have also worked with pen and ink, metals and found objects. I've been working with charcoal in recent years to focus on drawing. Wielding a thick, messy chunk of charcoal, using oils of my own hands, trying to obtain a painterly feel to a drawing, trying to make the flesh look fleshy...these are the things that excite me.
The display of my artwork for the show Tribute is dedicated to my grandmother, Constance Mahaney, who passed away February 4, 2009. May her steady hand guide me through every brush stroke.
Chris
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