Christopher Scardino

I did not grow-up in an artistically inclined family. Adolescence was difficult and I found it hard to express myself in words. The words would come, but images started to appear in my mid-20’s that would forever change me. My initial ‘left’ brain schooling occurred at UCSB and I graduated with a BAchelor of Arts in Sociology. After floundering for a year or so, ALL of a sudden, I found myself at an art store buying paint, brushes and canvas and ….started to paint. Just a few months later my father passed. This jolted all of me, but I had painting as an outlet. I sought out a school to further this need. After using a #2 pencil for most of my portfolio drawings I was accepted into the Laguna College of Art & Design (LCAD). Three years later I graduated with a BFA – Drawing and Painting in 2002. Almost immediately, after years of intense, detailed realistic figure paintings and the like, I needed to find my true vision. Abstraction became the vehicle for my true expression. Shortly after graduating I participated in 3 Laguna Art Museum Art Auctions and mounted my first one-man Exhibition at Marion Meyer Contemporary.

Within a few years I started to show my work on the East Coast at Principle Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia and Bella Vista Art in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina. Exhibiting on the EAst Coast was a nice honor, but I needed to find something closer to home. Showing with Seeds Fine Art for a few traveling shows at Biola University and abroad helped me to understand the wider scope of Exhibiting and the rtype of shows I wanted to be a part of. Several Los Angeles shows at Dalessio Gallery, The Hive and LA Contemporary were nice, but I started to struggle with abstraction versus figuration. I needed to pick one and understand it fully in order to continue. For the last 6 years I have been completely immersed in the world of abstraction. Most recently I was lucky enough to show at one of Laguna Beach’s newest galleries, Virga Gallery and for the last 2 years at Art-A-Fair Festival in the summer. My wife and I teach art for those in need at various schools throughout Orange County and continue to forge a strong path towards greater clarity with respect to expression. I am honored to be in the collection of Tyler Stallings, Igal & Diane Silber, Marion Meyer and the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity. I have also been published in Volumes 13 & 25 of Studio Visit, Spring 2015 edition of Nonprofit Quarterly and the 2017 edition of American Art Collector book.

I make objects that resemble something in between a painting, sculpture, mixed media piece or some sort of architectural construct. I tend to set out an array of materials in and around the studio so that I can start to make connections between these seemingly disparate elements. I may have written down some words to describe a piece or scratched out a rudimentary drawing and go from there. I work on various types of wood panel so I’ll start with a board or two or more and coat it with oil primer or latex paint or find another way onto the surface with aluminum stearate, gel medium, aluminum, zinc or wood strips, etc… I am not concerned with how the piece starts, just that it does.

My strength is the ability to build off of the previous step, even if I have to take a step back to then move forward again. As of late, using a propane torch has elucidated some of my thoughts concerning surface, value contrast and deconstruction. I choose to burn up the wood in areas and then heat up the paint so that it may take on another temperature of hue and get to move a bit on the surface. This allows me to see what my next action may be. The oil paint is certainly part of the process, but sometimes takes a back seat to other materials, textures, shapes, mirrors and words, on occasion. Various saws, sanders, and gouging tools are always at the ready so that these elements can all coalesce as one unified whole. The art is ever evolving, as it should be, and a previously finished ‘painting’, if in my hands too long, may turn into a table or a coat rack or a smoldering mass of burnt wood.

2017
Laguna Art-A-Fair, Laguna Beach, CA June 28-September 3

2016
Virga Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA September
Laguna Art-A-Fair, Laguna Beach, CA June 26-August 31

2015
Las Lagunas Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
Delano Hotel Lobby, Las Vegas, NV

2014
Bella Vista Art, Ashevill, NC
Chuck Jones Gallery, Costa Mesa & San Diego, CA
Barker Animation, Los Angeles, CA
Van Eaton Galleries, Sherman Oaks, CA
Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA
Laguna College of Art & Design Art Auction, Laguna Beach, CA