Comfort, 2020, wool and wire, 28"x 17"x 22"

Celena Barnes

Artist's Statement:

"My creative work is quite honestly a form of therapy for me. I exist in a seemingly constant state of flux between manic and depressive episodes, and managing chronic episodes of intestinal perforation. Painful to say the least. While everything feels like chaos, I find solace in abstract, time intensive pieces, thus giving the control I so desperately crave and allowing me to hone my focus. Drawing on my background as a veterinary assistant, farm hand, and a child from a line of medical professionals, I use the evocation of anatomical forms and animals to act as proxies to convey looming anxieties. The use of wool and wire in my sculptures echoes those anxieties. They’re pleasant and comforting to touch while maintaining a level of structure. This structure though feels unsteady, thus endowing the holder an empowered caution as to whether or when they’ll give in to the desire to fully enfolded my creations."

Artist's Biography:

"Celena Barnes is a Nanaimo based multimedia artist best known for her abstract organic line work. Her mediums of choice include watercolour, wool, and intaglio. Celena’s work showcases provocative themes surrounding sexuality, mental health, and trauma, drawn from personal experiences. While the imagery is often grotesque in nature, Celena aims to showcase moments of tranquility within events of voluptuous chaos, through a mix of abstraction and naturalism. Born in Calgary, Alberta to a single working mother, she grew up moving from place to place. Ultimately never staying anywhere more then two years. Her families strong background in nursing , farming, and carpentry helped her hone her sharp sense of dark humour, her delicacy for the dying, veneration for the dead, and a curiosity for the continued mechanics of life."

GALLERY