art delivery : 11.25.23

Today’s ‘member in the spotlight’ is Canadian artist Rose Currie. I’ve loved Rose’s urban seascapes for years, but this new body of work (figures: acrylic & oil on canvas; text: watercolor on paper) is so powerful, vulnerable, and beautifully executed. Here’s a small part of Rose’s story:

"My art has taken many forms but this artwork is a personal project that I have been working on, on and off for 15 years. There are a lot of big feelings when you have had cancer and that’s just what happened to me when I was 33 … I had chemo and a stem cell transplant from my younger brother. My transplant date was my re-birthday where physically, scientifically I was born again. After the chemo destroyed my immune system and killed my cells I was given my brother’s stem cells. There were many terrifying days while I waited for them to take and reproduce in my body. I quietly imagined them as bright stars running through my veins, saving my life.

I have translated my experiences into a visual language of sorts. I was surrounded by pastels in the hospital robes, medical equipment and hospital walls. I spent a year in the hospital, so these colours comforted me. When I came home I experienced large bruises flowering all over my body. They would change colour as they healed and I interpreted them as the pastel colours all over me in my paintings. Whenever I felt low, alone or needing a boost I would pull on my tall striped socks. They felt like an armour.In the end I am not myself. I am part me and part someone else. My brother’s blood literally flows through my veins. I am a chimera.”

Oh my goodness, so moving! And there’s much more to the story if you’d like to continue reading. You can see “Chimera” right now, until Nov 30th, at Fortune Gallery in Victoria BC, and you can follow Rose on Instagram at @rosecurrieartist.

Oh my goodness… this is happening soooooon! Later this week, I’m hopping on a plane destined for Miami Art Week. Install starts on Friday, and the show opens on Tuesday, December 5th. I’ll have a blush pink wall covered in a series of ceramic “spells”, titled “MAGIC SPELLS for MODERN GALS”, showing at Scope Art Show. There’s so much to see in Miami from December 5th - 10th, but if you’re in town, be sure to come by Scope (on the beach in Lummus Park, between 9th and 10th just off Ocean Dr) for a visit… and maybe a bit of magic!

Have a fantastic weekend ~ Danielle