Kim Massaro  Artist, Making Paintings & Drawings

My current charcoal drawings are figures in landscape and depict a personal narrative. The explanation of the narrative is not necessary as each drawing should be experienced without my account of what stories they tell for me. My hope is that each viewer adapts their own response based on their own experiences. What I can say is that while I have been making the drawings over the past year I see each as a part of a whole body of work, much like an album is a collection of songs. Each drawing can be seen individually but is connected to all other works in the series. This culminating body of work is called "The Stranger Series". These drawings can be viewed in my Portfolio in the first folder to the left 'Charcoal Drawings'. I continue to make drawings for this series as well as paintings.

Mutation Drawings:
The drawings about DNA strands are explorations into the inner world of our most basic biology. In these new pieces I am searching for beautiful abstract forms whose sci-fi mutations would in a sci-fi world create an array of outcomes. After having two sons the realization about their miraculous creation returned to my thoughts again and again. The idea that a simple mutation could have resulted in myriad of results other than the children I have come to know, is both fascinating and terrifying.
After many years of working with, about, around and through the landscape, I have changed my focus to the inner landscape. In a world of amazing scientific and biological discovery the preciousness of life has been revealed as precarious and potentially maliable. The smallest shift in a protein can define the life or death of an organism. To create a human life so many factors play in to the creation; inheritance, timing, environment to name a few. New discoveries that manipulate DNA can benefit many but also create a discussion about ethics when manipulation can alter the development or flat out change the outcome of development, such as gender choosing and designer babies.
The double helix is a beautifully simple form and alteration to its form can result in predictable and unpredictable results in biology and interesting images in art. I am attracted to this form for its intimacy, controversy and power and ultimately how it weaves its life force into the very fabric of man.