PC3

Tonight is the book launch for the Passive Collective 3. I have a piece in it as well as many fellow artists and friends! I've attached a link to the facebook event. http://www.facebook.com/events/306319522802981/

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it, but I know for a fact it will be a great time, with great music, great art, and great people!

:)

Lately...

It has been a while since I last posted anything. Here's a brief insight into what I've been up to.

This past summer I spent a month in Gambo, Ethiopia teaching English and Art to children. As cliche as it may sound, it definitely was a life changing experience. As I was there to teach, it is crazy how much the children taught me. I am looking forward to help Children of Light, a non-profit organization I went to Ethiopia with, build their art program as well as to spread light, love and education to the community.

A piece I worked on with the kids.

Right after my time in Ethiopia, I spent some time in Europe, where I backpacked around Spain, Paris, Lausanne, Germany and the Netherlands. I was very fortunate to have met some really amazing people during my time. One of the most fulfilling things I learned is to help one another, and whenever I asked if there was anything I could do in return to show my gratitude, a common response I received was to pass it on. :)

Louvre, Paris

I went to many art galleries, including the Louvre in Paris and The Dali Museum in Figueres. I was very excited to experience certain paintings in person as opposed through textbooks and photos like I have for the past 5 years during my time at OCAD U. I was very inspired after having visited many museums and galleries.

Upon arriving back to Canada, I moved back in with my parents up in Vaughan. It was a tough adjustment, but I've learned that it is up to me to create my own environment for me to strive in. I created a little studio space in the basement for the time being. I'm currently working on a few pieces.

My little studio space.

4'x4' piece I'm working on, still very early stages. An extension from my Inception piece I created earlier this year.

A self-portrait in the works.

Before I always begin working on a piece, I work on a couple of smaller pieces to get my gears going. With that said, I always seem to do a self-portrait. It is a great way for me to analyze where I am at this point in time, and pushes me to reflect on the type of art I want to create. I'm very much interested in the psyche, and mental health, and I feel like these self-portraits are great start to larger themes I want to explore. One of them being identity.



On a complete side note,
To help raise money for Children of Light, we will be hosting a party at Creatures Creating on Saturday January 12, 2013. Check out the event page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/562565443757522/

Please contact me if you're interested in buying tickets. GOODNIGHT AND GLOW! :)

Two Oh Five: The Forgotten

I was recently in a show at the Gladstone Hotel called Two Oh Five: The Forgotten. I want to thank Kelly, Cayla and Yiying, for putting it all together.
The show ran from June 14-June 17. Showcased was the work of fellow  students who shared a studio space in the basement of the building at 205 Richmond St within the past year. I can honestly say that I had such a wonderful time sharing the space with every single one of them.
If you never got a chance to check out the show, here is a review: http://gstoneblog.com/hewitts-take/

A few other artists and I were mentioned to look for and you will notice a photo of my work is featured on the review. It's the 3rd photo down. The one on the right is my most recent piece.
:)

More Paintings

Face Off, Acrylic on Canvas, 3' x 5', 2012

Inception, Mix Media on Canvas, 3' x 3', 2012

Preliminary to Inception, Mix Media on Canvas, 2012

Self- Portrait, Acrylic on Canvas, 18" x 18", 2011

Self- Portrait, Acrylic and India Ink on Canvas, 18" x 18", 2011

The History of 365 Dupont St.

Fragility Series, 2011

Amanda II - 74" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Carm - 81" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Ibrahim II - 72" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Isabella - 74" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Izaak - 81" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Alex - 72" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Amanda I - 75" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Ibrahim I - 86" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

Justine - 81" x 42" India Ink on Mylar

OCAD U GRAD EX

http://www.facebook.com/events/220337874726742/


Come check out OCAD U's Graduation Exhibition!!!

You can find my work in room 430 on the 4th floor at 100 McCaul ST. The show began on May 3rd and is running through to May 6!


You don't want to miss it. :)

Art of the Figure

http://blog.zeebigbang.com/search/ocad+

A photo of one of my pieces was used for this blog when speaking about the OCAD U Art of the Figure Show that happened last month. It's the second one down on the left.
Ink on Mylar, its 1 of a 10 part series that explored the fragility of the human condition.

I received an honourable mention for this piece.
 

Fallen.

In my current practice I am investigating the fragility of the human condition. I take a gestural and illustrative approach, which allows my ink figure drawings to take on an ambiguous and distorted nature. The sinuous lines used for the figures in hunched over positions give a sense of fragmentation and reflects issues of existentialism. Fallen is a site specific wall work created under a skylight, in my home, to give the illusion that the figures are falling from the sky.

Swallow me hole.

I'm currently taking a course called Painting in the Expanded Field, and it's all about creating installations, and site-specific works using unconventional ways of painting. Within the first week of classes we had an assignment due, and I decided to do an extension of "Embracing the Moment." So, what I did was try to control the experiment too much, so much so that it turned out completely different than I had expected. It ended up appearing chaotic, and overwhelming, completely different from the previous installation. 

This piece is a projection of what appears to be black holes being sucked into the unknown and it is accompanied with a sound that is a suggestion of suction. This piece is reminiscent of the happenings within the universe, which pushed me to utilize the classroom ceiling as a viewing space. Rather than looking at what appears to be the everyday ceiling within the classroom, my viewers are forced to look up and be engulfed by the unknown, abstract, dark circles.


Recommended to watch video with volume on and in full screen. 

Here comes the sun.

 Self-Portrait, Acrylic on canvas, 2009

 Mixed Media on canvas, 5' x4', 2009

Acrylic on canvas, 2' x 5', 2010

Attn: Friends, Family, Lovers and Other Strangers!

I NEED YOU!

A couple of years ago I worked on a piece where I asked a general group of people via facebook about their favourite sex position. What is yours? And if you could write a postcard sized letter to the person who you experienced it with, what would it say?

I'm currently working on an extension to this piece, meaning: I WANT MORE! :) Ideally I would love to receive as many as possible within the next week or so. This sounds a little demanding, but I am submitting these to a show that is slowly creeping up, and I would love to have a whole range of letters. I'll keep you posted about details about the show. All I know right now is that it is on Fri Feb 10, 2012.

This piece is a fun quirky way to bring the intimacy shared in the bedroom, bathroom, or where ever you like to play into the eyes of the public.

You may reply anonymously here, or better yet shoot me an e-mail to christine.gennara@gmail.com. PLEASE DON'T BE SHY TO SHARE!
I would appreciate letters from people of all sexualities and genders.

Here are a couple of examples of the finished product.

THANKS! I hope to receive some replies.

PEACE

Embracing the moment.

Have you ever been extremely frustrated working on a project where you had done so much work, yet you felt a strong disconnect when trying to explain your process through words? This is what this project did to me, until I sat back observed everything I've done and applied it to my everyday life. There was an element of surprise when working on this, which allowed me to sit back and embrace the moment of which everything was happening. As a result, I ended up with this installation:

My apologies for a terrible quality of a video, at the time I only had my cell phone on me.

Each of the projections you see are separate, and if anyone has an event or a party in which they'd like to display one or the other, or perhaps both, please e-mail me with inquiries.

The music piece was created with the help of my dear friend Carmine Bruno.

Would love to hear feedback regarding this piece. Thanks y'all!