Show Dates: May 25- July 21, 2018
Reception: Saturday, July 21

Artist Statement

Whether understood as complex physiological organisms or as souls swaddled in flesh, humans embody mystery and potentiality. My interest goes beyond the unseen and incorporeal elements to embrace the physicality of people as well as their collective psychology. I find subtle moments revealing—the tension in an arm, the curve of a shoulder, the intense look in an eye, and the connections people make when they look at each other.

 My work rides the edge between different modes of painting with color acting as a central component. I am drawn to that space where representation meets abstraction and where volume and flatness intersect. Overlapping marks create layers of paint that both reveal and conceal, similar to our physical surroundings’ ability to both reflect and influence our identity. My current series acts as both a study of persona and as conduit to express emotion for myself, for the model, and for the viewer. Through the use of color and the expressive language of paint, my work connects the personal to that which links us as human beings.

Biography

Clarissa R Gerber received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Michigan State University in 2011. Gerber is a figurative painter who uses color and the expressive language of paint to present the human form, both physically and psychologically. Her work has been exhibited numerous times in national juried exhibitions, including the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Brooklyn, New York; Gallery 263 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Union Street Gallery in Chicago Heights, Illinois; and First Street Gallery in New York City. In 2015, Gerber had a solo exhibition entitled Sensation in the Sheetz and McLanahan Galleries on the campus of Penn State Altoona. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, Ohio. Additional information and images of Gerber’s work are available at ClarissaRGerber.com.