Adam Chamy – She Dreamt Her Eyelsashes Were Fireworks and that her Story Couldn’t Be Banned

Description

Artist Statement: As someone with a complex identity, I am naturally interested in points of similarity and divergence. My work explores themes of unity and contrast both literally, through the layering of traditional media and found materials, and figuratively, through the combining of real and mythical. Like a quilter, I am interested in assembling cohesive visual narratives out of fragmented parts. Through the process of mixing media, I begin to understand the layers within myself. I layer or collage painted landscapes, portraits of people I observe, or reflections on current events using a variety of media and found objects. The process may start with simple broad brushstrokes but often ends in fragmented expressive scenes where the real meets the abstract. I am an expressionist artist, but I deeply align to what San Francisco Museum of Modern Art curator Ross Simonini describes as “otherworldly art”. My practice is an intuitive journey uncovering unknown truths about myself and the world around me. It is driven by impulse, dream, psychic tumult, and mystery. I craft myths by attaching lion heads to women’s bodies in a representational style that blends the occult with queer camp. I choose loose ephemeral dream pop lines drawn from glitter, marker, and paint on gossamer craft paper to reflect reflections on the unreliable nature of memory on fuzzy summer days. Medium and style are in service of expression- reality becomes distorted in service of a more honest inner feeling. By giving form to these meditations, dreams, and observations, each work becomes a diary of the psyche that tries to uncover a hidden meaning. There is an element of alchemy to the process. I seek to visually transform disparate, humdrum observations into magical, metaphysical revelations.