We recently connected with Christopher Scardino and have shared our conversation below.

Christopher, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Art making is all about risks, especially when you veer off the well worn path. I studied classical realism at a reputable art school and for a time, I enveloped all that was the Renaissance, Baroque, Neo Classicists, Modernists and beyond. This came to a crashing halt when I realized that I had merely been copying the masters and then, my instructors, and borrowing techniques from living painters and things I saw in a book or elsewhere. I needed to take a risk and find myself, for the first time. I abandoned the figure and landscape, foreground, background, traditional techniques and trusted that I may find something else. At first, the figure still found its way onto the surface and then I forced bigger changes. I scored the panel, cut into the surface, used stucco and wall compound, blowtorches and whatever I could get my hands on just to feel something new. The work was ugly and dark and, at times, horrific and most were taken to the landfill or painted over or cut up into bits. Through the risk of risking it all I found that I didn’t need something familiar or safe or known. I was, and am, OK with the unknown, finding my way down the dark road not searching for light or warmth, but something I can react to and not be scared by. I have found my way yet again with another expression and the next is not far behind, but I owe it all to taking risks and not questioning what I am trying to say or even what it is. It’s me, mine.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I did not grow up with paintbrushes around or even crayons. My single mother did not have the time or money to invest in such things and I was not a curious child that asked for things, especially when we could not afford them. It took my father passing away when I was 25 to unlock something deep within me. After cancer took my dad away, I was left with this burning sensation. I needed to do something with this fire, all these emotions and I drew him 1 week before his last day. #2 pencil, simple pencil for I knew nothing about pastel or paint or…anything. 1 month later after getting my portfolio together, which was another foreign concept to me, I was accepted into the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach. I feverishly pored over the books I never knew about until they became familiar. Michelangelo and Da Vinci, Caravaggio and Velasquez, Sargent and Sorolla and the list goes on and on, became familiar and I felt like my shattered world had a new purpose. After graduating I found myself at a crossroads, because art school can teach you how to see and copy and sometimes, do it with passion and nuance. Essentially, an individual gets great at copying in art school, but the real test comes when you get out and start thinking for yourself.
Even though I did not know any better than what I was taught and what I consumed in all the books I decided to try everything else. I needed to stand out. Even if it was horrible, I needed to be different than what I was. Slowly but surely I found that I enjoyed simplification, broad shapes and color and surface quality. I went in that direction and over the last 21 years, through all of the ebbs and flows and doubt, I am still creating something different.
Since my art started with the passing of my father I have to say that my work is about dichotomies. Life and death, Light and dark. Intensity and passivity. A well-constructed and ordered universe and a wasteland of fractured and displaced elements that must resemble utter destruction to most viewers. My hope is that people find beauty in there somewhere, even though I don’t believe in it sometimes. Beauty, balance, harmony, weight, depth. Something different.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Back 2018 I started having tremors in my hand, up the arm and right to my head. Primary focal seizures is what the lab coats diagnosed me with initially. It kept happening and it landed me in the ER twice and overnight stays in the hospital became the norm. Scans, MRI’s, 5 neurologists and….nothing. No answers. To make a very long story short I deduced that it had to be some of the material I was using. Pushing my art as far as possible was what I was after. I was burning the paint and wood and metal AND Oil Based Aluminum. Insufficient masking and ventilation were the eventual culprits and I came this understanding on my own despite my telling the docs what I do, ect… I had to find a new way into my work and I stopped the burning and restructured the art so that my hands could take a break as I was still feeling uneasy about gripping and my dexterity was askew to say the least. I stepped back from art for several months in order to understand how I wanted to proceed. I have found my way again and I am better for it.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Around the time of my seizures when I took some time off I decided to try out Instagram. Just images, a few words and that’s it. Hashtags followed and more of an in depth start of a discussion ensued as I shared more of myself with this unknown audience. Gradually, people all over the world started to respond to this new mixed media, abstract, color field, 2D/3D wood artist and I engaged them more and more. I need to continue the build, but at least I am sharing and many people find it worthwhile and may even share a few words. Just be your authentic self, be candid about your shortcomings and yes, share your triumphs as well, but be real, unvarnished, filthy, scatter brained, warts and all.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.scardinofineart.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/scardinoart
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/public/Chris-Paul-Scardino

Image Credits
All image credits are by the artist, christopher scardino