My underwater paintings capture random specific moments of figures in a pool environment to relate universal themes. Using vibrant color and focused, unexpected compositions, I aim to reveal the inner essence with the purpose of expressing the universal unconscious. I choose random images that create the feeling of being right there in the moment, not necessarily premeditated or manipulated. This image or concept reveals itself in a more arbitrary way to make a compelling, more abstract composition.
Resilience of Being and When You Were Young use a polytych configuration to elaborate on this randomness. They take everyday moments in the pool in a way that eludes to our universal life experiences: obviously joy and fun but also buoyancy and resilience in the face of hardships and loss in life.
I am interested in painting through the visual filter of water instead of air. I am drawn to the idea of stepping back and relinquishing control over what images emerge from the underwater process. The figure immersed in water takes on a fluid form allowing interesting compositional complexities not otherwise possible on dry land.
Zoetrope 1-5 is a study of the human figure in motion interacting with the rhythmic movements of the ocean waves.
Persistence of Vision, the title of a recent solo exhibit (March 2010), is a reference to the illusion of motion created when still pictures are viewed via an instrument known as the zoetrope. A series of individual figures is viewed through a revolving cylinder, appearing to the eye as a single animated figure. The phenomenon of persistence of vision creates the appearance of motion. Photographer Eadweard Muybridge modified the zoetrope device further and was instrumental in the development of the motion picture in the 1870s. The Zoetrope series interprets this concept to study the human figure as well as to examine a segment of our moment-to-moment existence.
My figurative beachscapes strive to capture the essence of a personal, close-up view within the context of distilled environs. I love the process of painting in oils. Employing a spontaneous, painterly approach coupled with bold, intense color and simple, iconographic compositions, my canvas develops from drawing and grisaille underpainting to an alla prima finish in oils. The interaction of color, light, shadow, and reflection is a primary interest. The theme of the beach and its inhabitants is reminiscent of my childhood, where long, lazy summers were spent soaking up the sun, surf, and sand in the company of friends and family, seagulls and sand crabs. The seashore invites us to take a step into a natural world that liberates us from the cares of everyday life – a place to take off your shoes and take a deep breath. The immediacy and oneness with nature is at once contemplative and invigorating. I aim to reveal the inner essence of the individual with the purpose of expressing universal sentiments. I seek to capture specific moments of contemplation, discovery, freedom, joy — unobserved moments preserved.
Seaside travels to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Sand Key Park, Sanibel Island, Spring Lake, Assateaugue Island, Ponce de Leon Inlet, Sebastian Inlet and Sarasota have been a source of inspiration.
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BIO
Claudia Waters is known for her figurative seaside and underwater oil paintings. She earned a BFA from Parsons School of Design and has studied painting at the Art Students League and the Yard School of Art. Her paintings have been shown in national and regional exhibitions.
Waters received the Allied Artists of America Award for Running Conversation, an oil on linen, at the 71st Midyear at The Butler Institute of American Art. She was awarded third prize for Edgartown Light in the Oceans, Rivers, Lakes and Streams show at the Park Avenue Club. A Perfect Day was featured on the Spring 2008 cover of the Montclair Art Museum Education Brochure. The painting, Laughing Gull, received a finalist award in the animal/wildlife category of The Artist’s Magazine’s 25th Annual Art Competition. Several arts cover articles about the artist have been written by Joan Finn (2006-2009) in The Montclair Times.
Group exhibits have included: a three-person show, Sea and Sky, at the Kirkland Art Center; Mini-Mania 2 at The Arts Guild of Rahway; Just the Figure at the Walter Wickiser Gallery; Currents at the Court Gallery; Personal Vistas at the Montclair Art Museum, Yard Arcade; Out of the Blue and 8 Visions, both at the Attleboro Arts Museum.
Resilience of Being was part of the Metro 26 Show at City Without Walls. The exhibition jurors were Chris Coover, Christie’s; Kathleen Gilrain, Smack Mellon Studios; and Priska C. Juschka, Priska C. Juschka Fine Art. The Metro 26 show traveled throughout the state of New Jersey for one year in 2009.
In March 2010 Waters had a solo exhibition at the Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson University, that featured both her seaside and underwater oil paintings.
In July 2010 Glossy Ibis will be in the group show, Seeing Double, at the Attleboro Arts Museum, juried by Kristina Durocher, Curator of Collections at the Fitchburg Art Museum.
Her painting, When You Were Young 3, is on exhibit at the 2010 New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Art, Reality + Artifice, at the New Jersey State Museum from May 8 through Oct. 31, 2010. The jurors were Ricardo Barros, photographer and author; and Margaret O’Reilly, Curator of Fine Art, New Jersey State Museum.
Claudia Waters’ paintings are in numerous private collections.
“I dream my painting and then I paint my dream." Vincent Van Gogh
“Nothing is more abstract than reality." Giorgio Morandi
“The seashore is a sort of neutral ground, a most advantageous point from which to contemplate this world.” Henry David Thoreau, Cape Cod
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