Photo by Luisa Valarezo
Cameo Venchiarutti is a multidisciplinary artist specializing in contemporary art. Drifting from a degree in Environmental Geography, she is currently settled in Toronto where she’s finalizing her diploma in Visual and Digital Arts at Humber College. Her work often embraces themes of personal transformation — and the dichotomy between the natural and the industrial worlds — in compositions where she melds traditional practices like portraiture with elements of magical realism. Always, Venchairutti captures a deep understanding of humanity and our interconnectedness to all beings. You will find her work displayed in the upcoming 2024 VADA Grad Show at Humber College’s Lakeshore Campus.
Artist Statement
My creative work takes on both traditional and digital forms, often favouring contemporary practices while embracing concept design. Encompassing the environment and atmosphere in symbiosis with a character, my pieces display themes of identity, transformation, the unconscious, femininity, and a balance/symmetry in nature. I remain inspired by scientific perspectives revolving earthly cycles and organic matter, obsessions that materialize conceptually in my work by reflecting one’s relationship with the self and the environment — both in realistic and surrealistic forms.
While working on a project, establishing cohesiveness and likewise maintaining a balanced composition are visual components that create areas of contrast in my pieces. Oil paints are my preference because of the cohesion they offer between adaptability and richness in colour, both properties crucial to methods of creating visual depth through brushstrokes. The fluidity in the composition relies on elements of form, movement, and texture. Together, these aspects of material and technique bridge, adding a dreamlike quality to each painting.
These works are reflections of the human experience — and a desire to escape from being submerged by the endless trial and toil of mundane reality. Attempting to challenge the growing industrial market and its pull on society, I hope to highlight certain limiting beliefs that keep individuals’ worth secondary to, and burdened by, machines, possessions, and other consumption rhetorics.