Artist of the Month January 2012

Cara DeAngelis

Norwalk, Connecticut

Cara DeAngelis was born and raised in the harsh and wooded terrain of undomesticated Connecticut. Brought up in such exotic and feral conditions fueled her natural inclination toward the work she makes concerning wildlife, death and domestication. She has participated in shows throughout Connecticut and New York, as well as nationally. She’s received grants toward residencies in Vermont, New York and France. Cara is also a recipient of the Rudolph Zallinger Painting Award. In 2011, Cara graduated with her Master’s degree from the New York Academy of Art in Tribeca. She currently lives and works in New York and Connecticut.

How and when did you start creating art?

I guess it all started when I was 8 and got my hands on an oil paint “Paint By Numbers” kit. It was of horses. The oil paint came pre-mixed in mini plastic cups, so you just dip and apply, none of that mixing nonsense!

What media and genres do you work in?

I’m primarily trained as an oil painter, and that is my medium of choice due to its flexibility and rich history. I also work in drawing mediums, crayon being a new-found love of mine.

Who or what are your influences?

I'm an art history nerd and draw upon many artists from the past, but the most influential period of history for the work I do with the Roadkill would be Flemish masters such as Franz Snyders and his Hunting Still Lives, and Dutch Still Life painters in general. Chardin is also hugely influential to me in terms of Still Life. I take inspiration from these artist’s ideas of "Meat and the Meal" when I'm setting up the roadkill and the dolls, even though I am not representing "the meal" as they did.

With my Roadkill Series I’m playing with the trope of the 17th century Hunting Still Life. With that idea I then subvert the image by replacing game animals with roadkill, and instead of Aristocratic luxury items I place symbols of femininity and innocence like dolls and children’s toys around the roadkill. Traditionally there is a sense of grandeur and Masculinity in the Hunting Still Lives, with guns and hunting equipment often placed decorously around the dead game. I intentionally went with notions of domesticity and Femininity in my still lives to give my paintings a very different feeling than the 17th century ones, though still keeping the overall compositions and principles.

Describe your creative process?

It all begins by hunting for roadkill around CT (or wherever I happen to be). More often than not, though, I come across great roadkill when I’m not looking for it, so I always keep garbage bags and gloves in my car. I then bring the kill home and set them up in compositions that pay homage to, and satirize, 17th century still life. I paint in a classically trained, indirect manner after building and preparing my canvasses in the same tradition as the Masters. (Rabbit skin gluing, oil priming, etc).

What are you working on currently?

I just began a third painting of my “Woman with Roadkill” works, which are paintings of Aristocratic women with roadkill on their laps. They poke fun of historical portraits of rich women posed with their lap-dogs. Instead of dogs on their laps, it is roadkill. After that I have another still life of “Dolls and Roadkill”, this one involving a skunk. Needless to say, I regret bringing home a skunk, and will be suffering for a long time.

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

With my roadkill series I would like to focus the public’s attention on the problem of roadkill in the U.S. I would like to work toward ways of alleviating these accidents. This can be done through state and government policies, by putting in tunnels, overhead bridges, and barriers along busy roads and highways, as well as individually as people learn how to drive more safely for the animals as well as for themselves.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

CD: More of my work can be seen at www.caradeangelis.com .