Exhibitions

"I had to get over my fear of running through the world naked and learn to say, 'Take me or leave me.'"
- Steven Spielberg

Creating and then exhibiting a painting makes me feel like that Spielberg quote. I use my paintings to explore and understand my feelings and the world around me. Whenever someone else views them, I wonder if they can see exactly what I was thinking when I created that painting. At times, I wonder if they can even see more that I can see, and can see something about me that I don't even know myself. Of course it's also possible that they interpret my imagery completely different than I had intended, and see something I never even thought of.

I have paintings in two separate exhibits at the moment: my painting, Joy At Any Size, is exhibited at part of the Art League of Long Island's Member exhibit in Huntington (above, more about this painting at http://claudiam.com/Paintings/DetailPages/DetailJoyAtAnySize.htm). And I have two paintings hanging in Northport Art Coalition's Village Hall Art Exhibit (my paintings are on the left and right: on the left is Confined (http://claudiam.com/Paintings/DetailPages/DetailConfined.htm) and on the right is First Try (http://claudiam.com/Paintings/DetailPages/DetailFirstTry.htm). Very different paintings - I guess that's why they separated them.

The first few exhibitions I did made me very nervous. I was as anxious for feedback (preferably positive) as anyone, and I felt I had something to prove as an artist. But exhibitions never give me as much feedback as I expect, so I am quite a bit calmer about it all now, and exhibiting regularly has become part of my everyday life. Now I am more surprised when I actually do get a comment, which inevitably brings me back to the moment when I created the painting in question. And luckily, most of the time when people make the effort to comment, it's because they have something good to say. The same is true for my green hair. People who don't like it pretend it doesn't exist.

- Claudia