Year of Residency: 2021

Artist statement

I am a Colorado based artist, and in May 2021 I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with B.F.A. in Fine Art Photography. My passion for art was ignited at an early age, this passion lying in the ability to create something that alters our perception of reality. Specializing in portraiture, I aim to construct compositions that capture a human as a raw being. Common themes in my work encompass humanity, our psychological construction, and the viseral emotion we experience. My style seductively walks the line between the beautiful and the grotesque.

Motivation

The concept that I will be exploring during my time in Belgrade is “Vanitas”. Vanitas describes an artistic movement that began in response to a particularly prosperous era in 18th century Holland. Artists devoted themselves to communicating that life’s pleasures; money, beauty, and power, are not everlasting properties. Rather, the nature of life is fleeting, finite, and temporary. Artists used significant symbols such as skulls, wilting flowers, and hour glasses to convey this theme throughout their works. My work surrounds humanity and what makes us us, whether that be in life or in death. So much of our experience is impermanent and I am highly interested in exploring that slippery concept. For this body of work, I am going to construct pieces of wearable artwork that represent both the pleasures of life, but also the futility of such pleasures.

Links

https://www.kaijascheuerman.com

Instagram @kaijascheuerman