Memories are always hovering inside the body and tied to the brain, with no pain, no ending, no other shore to reach. An old song on the old radio that is almost about to be forgotten, the smell of old cigarettes wafting from the clothes of the clerk of the one-dollar store, the neighbor lady who thinks no one knows her is once again drunk on time in the lost pupils, and you suddenly find an aging woman in the mirror shedding tears of guilt...
If human consciousness is always inclined to imitate the strangest art as the most ordinary life, is the world a set of randomly generated stories, or a deliberately crafted performance?
Welcome to My Theatre of Dreams, if you like the more alternative art and are willing to learn about the weird ideas that spill out of the brain of a quirky nerd, then there's no doubt you're here.
Silly "little spark"
My name is Christina Romeo, I love flowers, trees, the innocent and mysterious power of nature, and the heartfelt gaze and smiles of children. Every day, I bask in the reverie of creation, breathe, live, and satisfy my impulses to act that I can't help myself by "shaking" the paint onto the paper.
Maybe I was obsessed with it by nature, and I remember being put in the middle of a whole bunch of magazines when I was very young, and my parents gave me a pair of scissors, a tube of glue, a poster board, and I was always fascinated by the world full of infinite possibilities in front of me, silly to cut out any shape I wanted and paste them into the empty space I wanted to fill — yes, absolutely stupid.
My parents' genius moves kept me busy for hours at a time, and though I now suspected it was just a brilliant idea they had come up with to take a quiet break, instinctive and relentless curiosity did ignite the first spark at the beginning of my creative path, so much so that much later it would still burn comfortably in a small hole deep within me, and although it was difficult to remove it all, it could not be safely hidden.
Get out of the mud, the gift of dreams
As a result, creativity became my best friend and my best comfort in coping with the trauma of childhood. On paper, on canvas, on fabric and clay, I spent sleepless nights; in years when there was no foundation in painting, no respect, no love and forgiveness, I focused on thinking about who I really was with creation after creation; in an adult world without parents, without family, without companionship, art gave me something that belonged only to me. It never judged me, but taught me how to cheer up from the darkness, and in the endless drift, it helped me spread out a map and guided me out of the mud.
So, my creative inspiration is focused on a place where the gifts of dreams come together, where I can sing and dance freely, do stupid things without restraint, and live a full life every second I have talent.
The concept of defining these works stems from two frameworks. One is a subjective structure based on my personal opinions, beliefs, opinions, and emotional outpourings that evoke and reproduce my past experiences and memories, under which a strong communication intent is shaped by my imagination and life experience. It was a poignant feeling of heartache, but the persistence of my youth saved my besieged soul.
Another framework is an objective representation based on a visual language such as lines, colors, symbols, and forms. In my work, I use a combination of paper, acrylic, oil sticks, watercolors, fabrics, and embroidery, and this mixed media work begins with a strong "texture anxiety." In the years that followed, I combined the techniques of oil painting to develop an approach to collage and visuality, and gradually shifted the focus of my work to the structural practice of abstract portraiture.
Simple pleasure of a simple woman
In December 2021, I started reading Cal Newport's deep work. This book outlines and defines what "deep work" is and why we need to use deep work to be more productive and have sophisticated information. It's extremely cruel to keep creative people away from creative work, but thankfully, I came across this book just as I was about to fall into the abyss, and a subtle shift was happening to me.
For me, deep work starts with long hours of quiet thinking. In this way, I can perceive the rhythm of the heart, rather than the helplessness generated by social pressure. I think I've always been a contemplative person, and to enjoy a time that belongs to myself, I just sit in front of the window and gaze at my own little world.
In my spare time, I make small batches of ceramics, and watching my characters come to life in the three-dimensional world of realization is a delightful process. At the same time, it is my gift to myself – to tie human emotions to a touchable entity in a creative form of expression, and the pleasures of a simple woman are also extremely simple.
Christina Romeo
Finally, I would like to say that despite the long way ahead, I am still grateful for the way forward, even if I face the abyss, I must learn to look up at the sun.
Eye Edge Art Chronicles Chapter 886 is dedicated to the artistic gift of life. If you need to reprint, please obtain authorization first, and please indicate the source after reprinting
Text Writing: Eye Edge Art Zhi