Please join us and help celebrate our newest exhibition at Merge Gallery. Take this opportunity to meet Clara and ask her questions about the work or the inspirations in which she created these paintings.

In Fialho’s abstract oil paintings, the viewer is encouraged to step beyond the physical layers of the material and absorb the energy the works conjure. This new body of work has been arranged of dreamlike multitudes of interconnecting orbs of varying size and hue, which dot the canvases in seemingly inadvertent whimsy until entire circuses are created with all the energy and depth of a chromatic cosmos. Her works speak across time—alluding to elements from Paleolithic paintings to those of Frank Stella. These richly colored works are both playful and profoundly self-aware.

At first glance, one might assume Fialho is influenced solely by automatism, but after closer examination, it is apparent that there is order in this chaos of shapes and colors. Although Fialho often paints these symbols without a plan, allowing her unconscious to direct selections and juxtapositions, there are calculated movements to her brush. Hidden among the abstract is often one solitary figure, no more than three inches high and painted in realistic detail: a smiling little girl (Quasi Invisibili) or a folkloric trickster (Sací). The dichotomy of creating comfort for the viewer versus the pursuit of individualistic expression is perfectly achieved.

Clara states, “My work is intended to take the viewer away from the world of thought. Most of the time it is process oriented, sometimes containing elements from dreams. It constantly reveals universal forms which are innately present in every human being… My work projects a desire for equilibrium with the physical world and hopefully… will lead one away from what is present in their short-term memories, beyond reason and the frustrations provenient from our desire to become independent of each other.”