Clara Tessier

Studio Art and Biochemistry major

I am a multimedia painter working with motifs of longing and loneliness. Moving across the country at six years old, leaving behind my best friend, I found that I couldn't replicate the security of that relationship with anyone else and have been searching for genuine consistent connections since. I display my work sculpturally, with canvases that diverge from traditional forms, pushing the proportions of rectangular canvases to bring added meaning to my pieces in three dimensions. My work is an opportunity to connect with an audience, using the physical work as an interface to bridge the gap between stranger. I'm curious about the line between painting and sculpture, and facilitate interactions between "canvas" and viewer, expanding on a history of subjects making eye contact with the audience across time. This emerges from an interest in the themes of longing, loneliness, connection, and how these complex emotions can be portrayed thorugh abstract figurative painting. I utilize an array of transparent and manipulated layers that reflect the impermanence and complexity of relationships.

Almost One Day

oil on wood panels

Jewett Hallway Galleries

series of thin wood panels at irregular intervals on a gray fabric wall; all the panels have yellow edges and snippets of figurative and abstract imagery on their fronts in shades of blue, yellow, brown

Almost One Day is an invitation into an indulgent aspect of day-to-day thinking. I moved away from my childhood home with I was six years old, and consequently left a life of block parties on my front porch. I fell into a life of driving 45 minutes for a playdate; connection on a schedule. This move from a more urban setting to the deep suburbs where people were physically farther removed from each other left a lingering loneliness despite the communities I found. In this project I delve into the experience of making fleeting eye contact with someone as you pass each other on the street, and the excitement and hope that blooms from that moment. I lean into the daydream and storytelling of an instant connection that sparks a cinematic kinship. In the same vein, the process of cutting, gessoing, and painting the 17 vertical panels is creating this fictional reality. These paintings reflect on a constant unconscious search for connection, and the hope for security to be found in the eyes of strangers.