I attempt to create beauty through the unexpected assemblage of elements and color that can inspire hope through the transcendence of individual parts and their juxtoposition. The layers of visual history that are embodied in ancient urban landscapes speak to me of an ongoing transfiguration.
Adding, taking away, embellishing, redefining – these are part of my creative process. I start with a blank canvas or screen and continuously place, remove, hide and rediscover imagery with paper, paint, adhesive – or, on the screen, with virtual painting, opacities and filters. I do not want to simply create a beautiful image, but intend that image to contain a feeling that transformation has occurred, and as such, can be inspiring, perhaps evoking a sense of the ephemeral. Roughness and imperfections occur through this process, and are essential to my expression of found beauty – the imperative to discover the soul of what surrounds me.
In recent works, I have paid homage to Roman, Renaissance and Baroque iconography – much of what comprises of my current visual landscape in Rome. I infuse color, texture and poetical typography to my mixed media imagery and digital collages.
–Claudia Palmira
July 2020