ARTIST STATEMENT

Chania Allen

I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, grew up near London, England and currently reside in Burlington, Ontario and St. Petersburg, Florida part time.

An Interior Decorator by trade, it was during my Interior Design training while rendering interiors, that teachers often told me that I should be in the Art program. With this encouragement, and growing sense that I had perhaps chosen the “wrong” fork in the road, I sought to expand my more artistic endeavors, first through fiber art using raw wool for hand felting and collage, and later with paint and mixed media. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_________________________________________________________

My approach to painting, being self taught, was rather chaotic and random at first, however as it evolved, I became more methodical, more reliable and confident and my “style began to emerge. As an avid student, I studied, practiced, experiment and absorbed as much as possible. To express myself, I came to rely on color to tell my stories and developed a love for painting big untidy florals and bold, wildly colorful figures. My “painters” mind has developed to the point where no matter where I go, I can’t help but interpret everything into a painting, often working through the painting in my head and starting my process with study, notes, sketches and trials.

Growing up on three different continents has given me a huge number of influences to draw from. My figurative paintings rely on memories from Kenya, that are now quite vague, but serve well to create a story that I wish to tell through color and pattern. My love of gardening has drawn my focus to abstract florals, a modern take on still life.

With both my floral and figurative paintings, I work by continually adding, subtracting and exposing layers and layers of paint, charcoal, crayon and pencil. I have recently delved into using acrylic skins to create collage to add to my pieces. More and more, I am removing layers with a scraper and often the garden hose. What’s underneath has become equally important to me.

My current work was Influenced by family discussions and recollections of our time in Africa. With fewer of our elder members to hold our memories, I have tried to grasp and hold onto those few and treasured stories that I hold dear, and to put them on canvas. With some naturally occurring embellishments, the process evolved organically, and I found myself creating a series of dynamic, large scale paintings that perfectly expressed my story.

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I have rather excitedly discovered my story has not be told. Rather, I have years and years and volumes of material from my collective memories and experiences to explore and tell through my painting. I am a compilation of my scattered and somewhat diverse upbringing and this has forged my style that focuses on layered and exposed backgrounds, bold shapes, colors and textures, with a loose casual vibe. This allows my paintings to be relaxed, quirky, slightly askew, and unique.