Carla Golembe, Why I Continue to Paint Joy & Beauty

I’ve often thought that as humans we straddle the river of our potential with one foot on each bank. Our capacity for love and compassion is equaled by our ability to turn our backs on one another and by the biases and hatreds that people have harbored since the beginning of time.

We create art, music, dance, writing, and architectural marvels and we create bombs, toxic waste, wars, and concentration camps. As we trample on the planet and one another the cynical side of me feels that we’ve entered a dystopian universe from which there’s no return.

And yet I continue to paint beauty, joy, connection and harmony. When I enter my studio I leave my anxiety and sadness about world events outside the door. This is partly a conscious decision and partly the demand of the muse. When I paint I feel like a conduit for the imagery that wants to be created by me and through me. In juxtaposing colors I search for the perfect balance of hues and values that convey vibrant harmony. The figures I create emanate a sense of wonder and mystery. This is my authentic personal expression and my purpose as a painter. Although there is much in life that is frightening and saddening this is not the story I?m meant to tell. The world of my paintings is not realism but perhaps it’s magic realism. It is the reality of what makes my life worth living and what I want to bring forward into the world.
Carla Golembe
Nov 28, 2015

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