Artist
Chica Seal
Chica was born in Lisbon and studied Fine Art at Brighton University. Chica 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.
Her recent studies in Rome inspired her to look more closely at Classical sculpture and led to an interest in depicting cupids and angels in her work. She reinvents these figures in a unique style of her own - often contrasting the innocence and cheekiness of the cupid, with the sensual often erotic poses of her adult subjects. 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
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
Drop 2 - Spring / Summer 2020
'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
