Victoria Cantons
"The human condition and questions of identity are central to my work. Through painting, I investigate themes of power, identity, and male and female perceptions of each other." - Victoria Cantons
What we as individuals present to the world is multifaceted and not always visible, a continuous evolution in response to experience and in relationship to each other. She is interested in themes of power, identity, and people’s perceptions of each other. For Cantons, these aspects connect us all and yet we are also unique individuals.
Her work is autobiographical and confessional with political undercurrents, exploring identity, self and representation, and allowing her to point her attention towards the dialogue between painting, in and of itself, what it’s doing now and its history.
She often uses elements of photographs as source material, her own and sometimes found, but paintings always begin with questions and the sketchbook. She is seeking to translate what she is feeling in that time through painting. Though many of the paintings could not exist without photography, it is not the origin of the image that is important, she is concerned with the emotional response triggered within and their potential for reinterpretation or translation – she is preoccupied with the human environment and a desire for answers.
Ultimately the personal is political, painting relates to moments that are to do with things that are beyond language, beyond logic, beyond gravity and sound and nature. From the content and imagery to the titles, the human condition, gender, and social identity are at the core of her work.
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A mantra for daily living No. 2 (Trust), 2021
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A mantra for daily living No. 3 (Love), 2021
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A mantra for daily living No.1 (Hope), 2021
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A mantra for life (Hope is everything : Love is the answer), 2021
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A mantra for life (I am enough), 2021
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A mantra for life (I am love), 2021
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A mantra for life (I am loved), 2021
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A mantra for life (La vida es para vivir : Life is for living), 2021
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A mantra for life (Love is the answer : LOVE IS THE ANSWER), 2021
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A mantra for life (Love is the answer), 2021
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A mantra for life (The truth will set you free), 2021
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A mantra for life (Trust the process), 2021
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A yearning to backwards flood my impatient self with a wordless sense that everything is possible, 2021
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Forever and always, 2021
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Hope is everything, 2021
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I am enough, 2021
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I am not afraid of this moment, 2021
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Love is the answer, 2021
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Love this to which you return, 2021
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The memory of being that intimate, 2021
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Trust the Process, 2021
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Your soul is beautiful / Your heart shines bright, 2021