Last Wednesday, I had the honor to meet the artist Nicholas Carbonaro during the house dinner. We had an enjoyable conversation with some Grf and his friends. We talked about everything but not only art- related. I even  learned that he is also a hair dresser here in Ithaca.

Before I get into the details about our conversation, I talk a bit about this concept of high table. It is very interesting. It gives students the opportunities to talk with grf and professors around a relaxing and nice dinner. I truly enjoyed it. Everyone was so comfortable. It is true that last semester we could still have the opportunity to discuss at the table with grfs but I do not think that it was as easy as with the high table. I will really recommend students to sign up for this high table spots. In addition, they also give credit for the rose scholars.

Regarding my conversation with Nicholas,  we discussed on his work and his inspiration. I confessed that one of the painting was based on all the surgery he got throughout his life. I do not recall exactly the amount of surgery procedures, but I remember that he had several. At the end, we finished by discussing and criticizing movies. As I said, interesting meeting.

Last Wednesday I attended an art show showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. I found the art to be quite fascinating to look at, as it was not exactly what I would call “typical.” Instead of paintings of people that display a type of  perfection not usually found in real life–faces that most would consider to be “beautiful”–Carbonaro’s work depicted faces that appeared distorted (I think that most people would prefer to not share any image of themselves that looks like that). However, Carbonaro himself pointed out that usually the images of people that we see on social media, such as selfies, do not accurately display how a person often looks, but instead depict a brief–and often fabricated–moment of perfection. Just from looking at photos of people on social media, one might suspect that most people look “perfect,” but in reality they usually do not.

We usually think of people as being symmetrical–as in, if you were to fold someone in half vertically, their two sides would line up perfectly. However, this is not actually the case. Nobody is 100% symmetrical–not even when it comes down to facial features. Carbonaro showed this in his art by exaggerating these asymmetries in someone’s face (such as having eyes of two different sizes), which caused them to be more noticeable. Nobody would mistake someone in Carbonaro’s art as being symmetrical. Although the people in Carbonaro’s art do not necessarily look like the people in photos on social media, they are, in a way, more accurate depictions of people, as they draw focus on the imperfections that we all possess.

I found the exhibition by Nicholas Carbonaro to be incredibly thought provoking. He challenged the idea of perfectionism on social media by making his attract portraits very unbalanced.

He makes a valid point, when I scroll through Facebook or Instagram all I see are perfect faces with perfect lives. We rarely share our struggles and difficulties on social media, instead we carefully craft out an ideal life we can display to the rest of the world.

This fact leads to all sorts of problems. I find that when I’m sad or feeling down, going on social media will only make me feel worse because I see how happy everyone else is. Social media can be a great and an empowering tool, but we need to change the stigma around sharing not so pleasant posts.

This is why I believe that Nicholas Carbonaro is important in creating dialogue around the content of social media. The artist realizes that no one is that perfect and by displaying his artwork, he is giving users the chance to speak up on social media.

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing Nicholas Carbonaro’s artwork last Wednesday, complemented by copious amounts of nachos and guacamole. His pieces are thick and rich in color- abstract enough to enthrall, but concrete enough to be recognizable (see the piece attached above, nicknamed Journey).  I was inspired that he was a graduate of Ithaca College and a longtime resident of this city (we are in the midst of such talented people).

What I really connected with was Carbonaro’s artistic philosophy, and how he endeavors to show human emotion. For example, during his talk, he expounded upon the meaning of one of his works in particular after an audience enquiry- one which portrayed his experience with plastic surgery. This immediately grotesque image attracts our attention, and draws us in. Carbonaro spoke about how this piece relates to his rhinoplasty, and the complex, disconnected feelings he felt for years following it. Like our feelings, it isn’t clearcut, austere, and obvious, but muddled, intense, and questioning; by looking at this piece, we can attain some understanding (however small) of his state during that period in his life.

I am generally not a fan of modern art, but I appreciate its engagement with what’s most human about us, and for that reason, I hope to see more of Carbonaro’s work in the future. At the very least, it has helped me appreciate aesthetic more.

Last Wednesday, I attended my third art show and reception at Flora Rose House in the main dining room. I’ve always enjoyed attending this event each semester and getting a “behind the scenes” look at the artwork I’ll be eating next to in the weeks ahead.

The first thing that struck me about this year’s art collection was the variety of media incorporated in one space. In addition to paintings, the display includes photographs of hairstyles, t-shirts, and prints hung in strands along the wall. The artist, Nicholas Carbonaro, was at the event answering questions and he gave a short talk on the ideas behind the exhibit. The variety of mediums, he explained, is designed to showcase his creative collaborations with various groups over the course of his artistic career. For example, the photos of hairstyles are taken from his work for Madame Tussauds and Broadway productions and the t-shirts were created by a friend of his from his artwork.

One feature that ties most of the paintings and prints together is the recurring motif of dissimilar eyes on the faces of the people and animals depicted. I was glad someone at the event asked him to discuss the significance of this stylistic choice, as it was the aspect that I noticed the most on first viewing the artwork. Mr. Carbonaro explained that this feature is supposed to represent the fact that no human face, or any object in nature, is completely symmetrical. In this way, he sees his artwork as a more realistic depiction of life than the artfully arranged selfies on social media which are designed to give the impression of symmetry and perfection.

This week I attended an art show hosted by the Rose House in the rose dining room. When I walked in, I immediately noticed a different aura than I was used to feeling in that room. I heard smooth jazz teeming from the corner, where a pianist and a sax player smoothly conducted their instruments. I tasted the fiery pinch of red salsa, which had been set out with chips for visitor’s delight. Most importantly, I saw art splattered across the walls, which popped out against the gray concrete that usually surrounds me when I enter the dining hall. This art was like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was fascinating for one reason: because it revealed the beauty in the mid-blink. Think about it: have you ever seen a picture of yourself caught off guard, with one eye shut and an extra chin showing? These kinds of pictures represent the gut-wrenching fear of every person when they get a notification saying so-and-so “tagged you in a photo”. Immediately you think, “Oh god! What does the public think of me now!” Well, the walls of Rose dining hall were covered in pencil sketches of these moments. I saw a plethora of faces that were caught off guard, blinking, frowning, coughing, agonizing, slumping. While at first I was lightheartedly amused by these photos, with time I became more infatuated with them. This art show made me reflect on the human experience, and realize that there are no ugly faces. All of us share this extremely strenuous journey we call life, and sometimes that just makes us blink. Our faces are constantly evolving, expressing, living. There is something inherently beautiful about that.

Last Wednesday, I attended the art exhibit showcasing the work of Nicholas Carbonaro. His artwork was abstract, with distorted faces and lots of color in some of them. Many of the drawings had people with eyes that were different sizes, and not aligned. Before he explained what his inspiration and meaning behind his artwork was, I was intrigued by the drawings, as I thought they may be some representation that the world is not really how we view it, that nothing is really perfect, despite the desire in both the media and daily life to pursue perfection. His explanation of his inspiration and artwork really got at this exactly. He discussed the lack of symmetry in the real world, and the unrealistic nature of the “selfie” generation. This really resonated with me, as I have definitely noticed that there is societal pressure to attempt to make one’s life seem perfect and always seem put together, whether it’s a post on Instagram, or always having perfect hair and makeup whenever out in public. His artwork really provoked the opposite perspective, and the one he thinks is the true way the world is, and it is one that I agree with. The human race was not made to be perfect, and our attempts to counteract this on social media arise out of the false assumption that we should be perfect. Carbonaro made it clear, through both his artwork and discussion, that we should embrace our uniqueness, our lack of symmetry and the things that make us happy, which for him was being creative and expressing himself. Uniqueness is a key feature of being human, and failing to embrace this is a key mistake that many have fallen into. However, following Carbonaro’s advice, by embracing the things that make us different from others and pursuing the things we love and pleasing ourselves rather than others, we can overcome this pursuit of perfection that has been falsely instilled in our generation.

Nicholas Carbonaro has a unique take on life–as he discussed with us at his art show. He truly believes in the importance of creativity in everyday life, and that we must all work to feed our creativity. He sees the world in a different way than most–the example of how he draws eyes has the most explanatory power. A student asked him why he seemed to always draw eyes as different sizes/ colors/ styles, and he responded that he draws them that way because that is how they are. Apparently, the human face is quite rarely symmetrical, and the way we appear to others is how we look in that picture that caught us off-guard, rather than the perfect selfie we post on Facebook. Since he is aware of this lack of symmetry, he exaggerates the motif in his artwork to draw attention to it.

I was personally struck by the contrast in his use of color. His work was either black and white, or full of vibrant colors. There was no in-between, no soft, muted pieces with pastel colors. I tried to see the possible reason for his use of color in his colored pieces, but either it just went over my head or there was no reason. I know that I was personally drawn to the vibrant colors more than I was drawn to the black and white pieces, which is probably a common response. Perhaps his reason for using black and white is to subtly put off the viewer. He definitely seems to enjoy making people uncomfortable by portraying something as different from how we would normally imagine it–like the eyes. I really enjoyed this event, because actual artwork is hard to come by on campus without going to the Johnson Museum, and I am especially glad that we got to hear directly from Carbonaro!

On Wednesday, I attended an art exhibit reception for Nicholas Carbonaro, a local artist and the current Rose House Fellow. I went in not knowing really what his style of art was or exactly what I’d see but was very pleasantly surprised.

In the Rose dining hall on the back wall holds pieces of Nicholas’ work. He uses sharp lines and bold contrasting colors to create many different portraits. One in particular stood out to me. It was a self-portrait he painted of how he felt he looked like after a reconstructive surgery. The nose is overly-pinched. One eye is squinted far more than the other. The entire face looks gaunt. The background was filled with bold colors. Long hair was in disarray all around. It was wild. Free. Careless. Yet showed show much talent and work.

His message with all of his art is resonating. Those moments when you don’t care are the best ones. They show the true you. Your posed picture face isn’t what you look like. That moment you are mid cough: eyes squinting, hand raised to your nose, mouth slightly open. That is the moment that is great. Don’t focus on just a posed beautiful version of yourself. Every version is beautiful and find humor in everything.

Thank you Nicholas for coming to show us your work!

Before Wednesday night house dinner, we had a reception to welcome new art into the Rose House dining hall by Nicholas Carbonaro. While looking through the different pieces, I was fascinated by the lines and beautiful colors put together to create imagery. Examining the paintings up close was a much different experience than looking far away. Some of these art pieces were transferred onto shirts and presumably are sold in stores.

One thing that struck me was the process by which this might happen. I wondered what it might feel like for someone who produces art to have their pieces be put onto shirts and other objects to be sold. Is there something about the process of each individual piece that gives the art meaning? That is, if I paint an image on the canvas and that image is reproduced, is this reproduction somehow changing the art in such a significant way?  What about the process of marketing and selling of it? Does this diminish the integrity or meaning of the piece?

While I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas’ work, I was particularly drawn to the portraits on the subway portion. I couldn’t help but notice how all of the faces seemed to portray every unhappy emotion. Like great art does, this brought me back to a few months ago when I was riding the NJ Transit at 7am on a weekday. I found myself surrounded by individuals with headphones in. I couldn’t figure out if it was just the time or if, in general, subway rides are filled with individuals giving off unhappy signals. While I obviously don’t expect to be having a social on the subway, I also don’t see people smiling at individuals when eye contact is made or just observing and being present in the moment instead of staring at a phone. During my 7am ride, I felt down thinking about how these individuals are on this train every morning, M-F; I started to question whether or not this is what I wanted in my future.

All of this thinking came from the time I spent looking at Nicholas’ subway portraits. Across all of his work, I found myself recalling scenarios from the emotions I felt looking at his pieces. I also enjoyed the fairly large painting he did portraying his feelings while recovering from surgery. When he was describing how he felt during recovery, I could see those feelings in the piece itself.

In addition to presenting a visually intriguing and thought provoking display of geometric patterns and unbalanced designs, Nicholas Carbonaro’s art provided a message about the beauty of imperfection that is much needed in society today. The collection I most enjoyed is “People on the Subway.” It consisted of several portraits of vastly different looking individuals, and these portraits were strung together and hung side-by-side, spanning much of the exhibit wall. Each person of the subway was created from a different combination of arrangements of spirals, patterns of triangles, collections of dots, and sequences of lines. The different combinations of these geometric patterns conveyed the personality of each individual. Following each detail of the portrait and reflecting on how these details combined and interacted created an experience similar to sitting on the subway and looking at the different characters with which you are surrounded. Similar to how people often pass the time on the subway by looking at others around them and thinking about what personality characteristics they have, what their biggest flaw might be, what their occupation is, and so on, “People on the Subway” prompted the onlooker to consider what was unique about each depicted “rider.”

Also, Carbonaro dynamically uses asymmetry and imbalance in his paintings, and this artistic device shows that difference and imperfection are beautiful and interesting. Perhaps more importantly, Carbonaro’s art shows that this imperfection is a universal human truth. Everyone is imperfect and asymmetrical in some respect. In a world where beauty standards create the perception that beauty requires a nearly unattainable combination of physical features, this art communicates that there are countless combinations of physical features, all of which represent a different form of beauty. In celebrating this difference, Carbonaro’s art encourages viewers to find beauty in all things. I also must note that Carbonaro’s dedication to his work and passion for creativity is inspiring. At a difficult time of the semester, his reminder to find creativity in everything was much needed.