My images are spiritual in a Jungian sense, and are deeply felt. As I try to express these unconscious, mythical archetypes, part of what is driving me, and which sometimes affects my imagery in a more conscious way, is how I have been treated as a woman in society. Allowing my anger to come to the surface has helped inspire me to create a series of paintings showing who I really am.
I use deep red oil paint to depict anger and a feeling of overwhelming infatuation. Colors like light cadmium yellow give off a sharp pain and intense emotion. Deep red with bright yellow is a theme in my work. My images come from mythology, Jungian depth psychology, and identification with my Greek heritage. I surround ancient symbols in abstract expressionism to convey both the intensity of my emotions and the story of my personal struggle in the form of myth.
My work focuses on female empowerment, on embracing the power of who you are when living in a world that pushes that power down. I never thought that it would, but it does. I never wanted to be defined as a woman, but my life has defined me as such. I will continue to find ways to reveal the power of this theme in my future work. Although Imperium is a deeply meaningful series to me, I also have a poetry book called “How to make Art” that expresses raw thoughts combined with abstract expressionist paintings to create a book conveying deep emotions that we all feel but are too afraid to express. In summary, my work explores the depth of human existence, and the empathy and love that is found in the exploration of that depth. In the end, love wins. That is what my work shows and will show throughout my career. I hope to get closer and closer to that truth the more I create.
Artist Statement for Imperium:
Imperium is a series of ships from times past, surrounded with color and symbols from myth to create fantasy scenes. The primary style is abstract realism, painted in oil or acrylic on canvas.
The ships in this series are not static; they are in some type of process of transformation, on their way to something or from something—allowing the viewer to determine what battle might have happened, or could be imminent.
This series was created by searching for unconscious, mythical archetypes in an attempt to discover ancient power. The ships travel across waters, creating images on their path that are captured in this work.
Copyright © 2024 Shelley Anthos - All Rights Reserved.
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