The Survivor Art Gallery: Grand Chamber

Grande Chambers
NEXT: The Balcony >

Chriss Pagani

The inventor of the object-oriented abstract and raw experience impressionism has a dark side that not everyone gets to see. This artist may be known for bright colors, but an expressionist side has found its way into our night gallery. In these paintings we present works that show a trail of tears washed with a palette of pain. Once you know the story behind these works, your life may be changed forever...

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"House With The White Picket Fence"

"It's a reminder....A reminder that sometimes a pretty surface hides dark secrets and not all bones are buried in a graveyard."

Oil & Acrylic on canvas - 30" x 40"

"Dead Flowers In Some Abandoned Kitchen"

"It was in some abandoned slum...In Washington DC I think. Anacostia. They were just sitting there, as alone and hopeless as I was. It's funny, they were dead, but it was like they wouldn't give up or something.

When I feel like I have no options left, I feel trapped and I want to run away. But like the flowers, I'm stuck. Still, for some weird reason, I haven't given up - yet. I dream about the flowers, sometimes."

Gouache on 11" by 14" vellum.

"Hiding From Daddy"

"When my father got drunk, we all got scared. His anger constantly bordered on homicidal...I can still remember seeing my sister's and mom's faces smashed in like it was yesterday.

I saw a lot of blood, growing up, and I spent a lot of time hiding."

Gouache 11" by 14" vellum. This painting is held in the curator's personal collection.

"Requiem For A Dead Sister"

"She didn't have to die. But death took her. She didn't have to be alone, but alone was all she knew.

No, she didn't have to die. But death was her release."

Oil on 12" by 16" canvasette.

View From The Bathroom Floor After A Rape

"View From A Bathroom Floor After A Rape"

"It was just off of South Capitol street in Washington, DC. I took a wrong turn. I paid for it dearly. And you know what was really weird? There were all these men standing around when this guy attacked me and dragged me off into this closed service station's restroom - and they just watched! Nobody did anything.

It was probably the most hopeless and abandoned I've ever felt...well, at least since I was a small child. Back then, I was kind of shocked that nobody would save me from my father. They all just looked the other way. The rape brought back those same memories.

I got away when he was distracted or I'd probably be dead now. After this, I couldn't really sleep for a long time. And when someone touched me, I'd flinch and shrink away. After a few years, I don't flinch so much, but the dreams sometimes still haunt me."

"Bed Time"

"My father thought there was only one kind of discipline: The Nazi concentration camp kind. I used to hate my mom for letting him do this to me, but later in life I realized that she was scared, too."

Painting was created with permanent markers and acrylic on 9" by 12" vellum.

"Stone Pillow"

"A lot of my childhood, we were homeless. Sometimes we had a car to live in, sometimes we didn't have anything. Sometimes there was food, and sometimes there wasn't. I had an old baby blanket I'd grown up with...'grown up' - that sounds funny now. I stuffed my clothes in it and used it as my pillow. It got very dirty what with all the living on the streets or in the parks. But at least it was mine."

Gouache on 11" by 14" vellum.

Artist's Statement

"I've grown tired of whining bios and overblown artist's statements, so here's the inside dope:

"As a self-taught artist my interest lies exclusively in what I create and its transformational power. I do not primarily seek critical acclaim nor am I interested in playing the politics of art, but I am very interested in the creative flow and the mission of my art. What is that mission? Twofold; First, to preserve the last images of a dying part of America through paint, hopefully expressing elements of the world that a camera cannot see, and by so doing prick the consciences of the self-important Pharisees of the world.
Second, to transform the world through art - because I can. End of story.

"I grew up in difficult times. My family was homeless quite often and there was violence and alcoholism. I'm sure those things shaped who I am and the stories themselves can be rather dramatic, but this page is about my art not my suffering and I have done much to overcome all of that. Art was my escape from this world and I showed some early promise as a landscape artist. But I wanted more.

"I didn't pursue art as a career, instead I studied sociology and theology, and became a roaming philosopher. Only later in life did I return to my first love, and that was on a fluke: A friend needed a book illustrated immediately because the flaky artist who was supposed to do the artwork failed to meet deadline after deadline. I stepped in. That seemingly chance encounter with my old companion reawakened my artistic self and redirected my life. What about the "escape" factor I mentioned in the previous paragraph? Art still performs this same function for me to a degree, but it is also about my mission and purpose. I've added together elements of my unusual life, my extensive study of religion and metaphysics, my knowledge of science, psychology and many other things together to make my own art-world; a place where people may have their minds changes without even knowing it."

-- Chriss Pagani

Roadside Artist Outsider Art Gallery, extensive collection of Chriss Pagani works, impressionist, abstract paintings.
The Chriss Pagani Gallery

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