Artist
Chica Seal
Chica was born in Lisbon and studied Fine Art at Brighton University. She is interested in the way women have been depicted throughout art history and how our ideals of beauty have changed; from voluptuous fertility goddesses, to the perfectly proportioned Venus.
She relishes the relatively new phenomenon of being a woman painting women. She reinvents Classical figures in a unique style of her own - often contrasting the innocence and cheekiness, with sensual and often erotic poses. With their eyes often closed, her subjects evoke a dream-like state, caught somewhere between contented innocence and lustful ecstasy.
Chica's Style
In this series reoccurring compositions and symbols emerge from references to mythology, medieval imagery and religious relics. Sleepy, Modesty and Heavenly Creatures are studies from Classical paintings and sculpture.
Landed, Glove I, II & Pink Glove coincide with an interest in medieval imagery and folklore, which is part of a larger exploration looking into the personification of historic objects. In particular, the gloves displayed above the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral, which eerily hang suspended above the tomb alongside other 'memorabilia') and the enormous gloves of The Giant of Altzo in the San Telmo Museum, San Sebastian.
"The idea of relics and how they evoke a larger point of interest and narrative is something that has been a part of my method in picture making over the past few years, encouraging a deconstruction of the figure and space within the environment. Making these works in the past few weeks in the studio, with the real reality of introspection and ones yearning for nature has become louder, as the surreal realisation of our own ‘plague’ constricts our contact with other people..." - Chica Seal
AVAILABLE ARTWORKS
Shop by Collection
Drop 5 - Winter 2022
"In this selection of works on paper, all slightly different in size-some have been painted on old lining paper, which has a antique soft quality. All made this year, whilst focussing on figures in the landscape in a dream like pastoral setting, drawing on personal experiences, painting from memory and referencing narratives old and new." - Chica Seal
Drop 2 - Summer 2022
"In this collection, I have worked directly into the sketchbook using crayon - looking at antique, domestic objects decorated with the female and animal form. Sourced from the Pictorial encyclopaedia of Antiques, 1970. I zoom into the objects, hoping to inject some humour, irony and power into the 'decorative' elements used, elements which often condemn and trap the female and animal form into the domestic as just that - decoration.
Also in the collection are references from contemporary culture and the unrealistic goals and rose tinted hues of domestic bliss that we see through social media. ‘Polly Pockets surrealist homes’ are part of this concept.
In the works, ‘Flower Heads’, ‘Mantle Piece’ & ‘Good Morning!’ I used reclaimed industrial paper, starting in charcoal and then painting in gouache. They are based on small sketches and narratives over the past few months, and reference imagery from the film of The Canterbury Tales (1972) and large-scale drawings by Quentin Blake." - Chica Seal, Surreal Objects, Domestic Bliss
Drop 5 - Autumn 2021
"This collection is made from studies from historical paintings and objects. On missing the visits to galleries over the past year I wanted to create playful versions of the smaller studies I used to make whilst studying paintings." - Chica Seal, Studies From Paintings
Drop 2 - Spring 2021
"In this collection I started with quick charcoal drawings on rough grey paper, then over with gouache. Taking subjects from the daily routines at home mixed with the dreams of getting out again." - Chica Seal, Studies from home, March 2021
Drop 5 - Winter 2020
"These works are glimpses into characters under a frivolous guise. Using a mixture of pastel, crayon and watercolour." - Chica Seal, Seemingly Frivolous
Drop 4 - Autumn 2020
"In this series I've been drawing imaginary landscapes whilst contemplating the meaning of home and an affinity to a place, but also finding wilderness in the ordinary spaces within normal life." - Chica Seal, Private Places
Relics, Landscape + Surreal Forms
"Simplification and concentration of colour and form, a meditation on recurring symbols and images within my practice which weave throughout my work" - Chica Seal
Narrative Figures
"Works inspired by characters from literature and studies from Art History, through research leading to creating my own narrative and protagonists" - Chica Seal
