Meet Kiarita of New York

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kiarita.

Hi kiarita, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My first body of work, home[body], emerged as I cleaned out my grandfathers room after he passed. Coming across so much hoarded furniture, unused, just as I was beginning to paint moments with people that felt like home, initiated this body of work. I came to understand furniture as vessels to hold paintings of my chosen family sleeping, noting the importance of shared rest. Eventually, sculptural elements were added to the painting, embedding the picture into the furniture’s planes, and the addition of found objects began acting as diaristic collage. The culminating exhibition revealed to me how much more essential interaction and installation are to my thematic goals than the acting mediums. I want for the work to feel familiar, to incite a viewer to linger and become immersed. The works were exhibited in a brownstone turned gallery named Hausen, activated by a myriad of plastic covered seats and the record player’s crackling. As I move forward in my practice, I’ve become less interested in making representational work within the readymade, honoring a feeling as I depict the moment that incited it. Going forward, my curiosity lies in making reliquaries of feeling, portraits of the varying feelings incited by devotion through cast, handbuilt and found forms. Referencing the physical language of the domestic as well as reliquaries, altars, and other devotional forms, the coming works honor what we hold holy, and how we do so.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The inception of my work came out of necessity — I was interested in painting on wood, yet could not afford as many panels as I wanted to paint. Painting into these objects my grandfather left were a means to an end, before I quickly recognized the thematic potential and expanded the inquiry. Limitation truly breeds creativity, I was unwilling to let my resources affect my pace and creative curiosities. As I’ve developed as an artist I still experience financial limitations, but it’s continued to not only incite creativity, but stoke my belief in my ideas, leading me to apply to grants and fellowships that have expanded my resource opportunities.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work is based in examining proximities of intimacy, and creating sculptural pieces that reflect the sentiment. I use found furniture, painting, casting, and assemblage to make my work. My most popular works have to be those from “home[body]”, my first solo exhibition. Although, my largest painting to date has to be “from my hair follicle to my toenails (you love me)”, exhibited at the 2023 Untitled Art Fair in Miami. I’m pretty proud of myself overall for continuing the path of my desires and being able to create unfettered.

How do you think about happiness?
Connection is the most beautiful opportunity we have on Earth. My connection to others, myself, nature, my practice all nurture me immensely. Looking closely at the world around me, slowly enough to be present with it, is a huge joy. Life is so beautiful, in the way people smirk, in the dew drops of grass, in the fullness of feeling. I’m happy to be able to make looking closely and feeling deeply such a central part of my life through artmaking.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://scintillating.space/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sacralrise