Chaffee’s Artist of the Month
Some say that to surmise what drives an artist is either unanswerable, or too personal to share. But Roscoe Stark, 33, pinpoints connection, community, and creative expression. He’s our artist of the month.
His large paintings are currently on the wall leading up the staircase at the mansion, a trio he says are “some type of reflection of myself.”
“Ever since I dedicated my life to painting that’s what I’ve been full-tilt on,” he said by phone recently. “To learn new things and share my perspective through my art.”
His mediums are mainly drawing and acrylic paint to create surreal images. The titles of the three pieces he has on display are ‘The Borderline Angel of Introspective Resurrection,’ ‘The Balancing Amygdala,’ and ‘Manifested Trauma.’
“Those three pieces I learned so much about myself in,” he said. “‘The Balancing Amygdala’ piece was one of the more fun of the three. Basically it was my self-explorative attempt to express how I balance my emotions, or showing artistic representation of how I view the world or my reality emotionally. How I interpret emotions.”
It started with a drawing he came across that became reference material.
“There’s something cool and special about the human head to me for some reason,” he explained. “Especially a profile. I was reading over what parts of the brain the emotions originate from, which happens to be the amygdala.”
Drawings in charcoal of an anatomically correct brain from the profile, front, and top became the basis, on which he emphasized the amygdala.
“It was an anatomy drawing I used as reference, re-drew that entire thing and then painted that in my figure anatomically or proportionately with the figure head,” he said. “It’s a complex painting and in that composition I’m just letting myself have fun with lines. I use lines to control the flow of eye movement.”
“I’ve used these types of things to show the hot and cold of my emotions, and I try to have fun with it and express at the same time.”
A rough estimate of the time it took to make one of them – “70 or 80 hours at least.” But the enthusiasm in his voice when he talks about it is telling – he would do it if it took all the time in the world.
“I believe it’s my obligation to positively impact the world around me,” he said. “And to view the world through a positive lens regardless of how good or bad you think it is. Always embrace the opportunities and privileges we already have.”
“If I’m taking space in this world and I was given this gift I’m going to exercise my potential and try to inspire positive change.”