Karvarus Moore

My primary motivation in my practice is to express my truths about life in spiritual sense. Fueled by my Christian faith and background, my work highlights the beauties, struggles, and emotions of life expressed through my own narratives and processes. These narratives are presented through a series of portraits that are commentary on the life of family, friends, and even me. The subjects of my work involve lighting, people, and spaces. My processes manipulate color, light, figurative positioning and space within my pieces. Materials that I gravitate to are oil paints, drawing tools such as pencils and charcoal, and even various collage materials. The use of these materials, no matter the manner in which I depict the aforementioned subjects, allows me to create a portrait unique to an individual all the while exploring the limitless capabilities and uses of that material. I find that in my portraits I express different people from a variety of backgrounds in a way that is unique to my eye. My work acts as a series of wavelengths of light shining into a prism, converging at one point to meet a common space. That common space is an expression of the spiritual essence of the subjects in my pieces for viewers to experience. Spiritual uniqueness makes life so beautiful. Nothing is the same and I value being in diverse and varied circumstances, so consequently I reflect that in the various portraits I’ve created and will continue to create.

Works such as “Brother” and “A Moment in My Lifetime” are pieces that explore my own identity as a Christian man, an African American, and an artist. It is my intention to expound on this subject throughout my practice. There are certain complexities about my identity I burn to express and answer that I believe painting and drawing at can assist in leading a path to. I’m influenced by the works of artists Ndijeka Crosby, David Hockney and Gerhard Richter. The way they capture the form, energy, emotion and spirit of a figure/individual is powerful and reflective of who they are as artist. Implementations of their specific styles, whether it be in a more traditional or contemporary sense, inform my practice in distinctive ways.