Artist Statement
To define my work I should define myself.
I am the sum of the sun, the earth and the water.
History is in my bones. I face north, south, east and west.
I can feel my breathing and the sound of my heart.
I am the Earth.
I came from a German background, born in Argentina. I worked with my father in copper repoussé and started art school at the age of 13.
I define my work as a mix of European with a flair of South American. Love to use oils for painting and carve in wood as a continuation of my work, which feels in some way like an extension of my father’s legacy. In my sculptures I touch the volume and it becomes part of me, using my hands as if I was painting. And when I paint I try to bring volume to a flat canvas with dimensions, perspectives and thousands of mixed colors.
Reviews
Exhibit explores a culture that’s a study in diversity
Scott, Julia M., Sunday Star-Ledger. NJ, Oct. 23, 2005.
La Imaginería de Artistas Latinos en NJ,
Marceles, Eduardo, Vida Hoy. NY. March 8, 2002.
Art Gallery Exhibits Latino Work, Tapestry
Poulson, Theresa, The Daily Targum. NY, Sept. 28, 2001.
Mencion de Honor Monica S. Camin
El Clarin. Bs.As., Argentina, 1992.
Noticias de la Semana
La Prensa. Bs.As., Argentina. June 10, 1990.
Creating Art Produces the Best Kind of High
Ilein, Abraham, Artspeak. NY. April, 1, 1989.
Monica Camin: Jadite Galleries,
Orlovsky, Sandra. Manhattan Arts. NY. April, 1989.
What Critics Are Saying
As both a painter and a sculptor, Ms. Camin understands the significance of properly melding color and texture. Her painterly touches are often imprinted in the surfaces, and terra cotta reds and golds emanate from the smooth bronzes. Her sculptures “sing” of the earth from which they seem so recently to have emerged — in fact, the unbroken connection they have to the primordial earth is central to their existence. Calling her work futurist in its approach, Manhattan Arts magazine says of her, “...Monica Camin directs her painting and sculpture into moments through time, expressing human psychology at one with primal energies.”
- Sandra Orlovsky, Manhattan Arts
Her surfaces are a very rugged terrain, as though left unfinished, or only a sketch of what the “finished product” will be. But Camin makes no finished product; this is it, the raw goods. No wonder the standing “red” nude wiping her neck is called “Earth Mother.” These images are all stately goddesses, or at least Titans, bearing the dynamic mark of their creator, Monica Camin: the finger strokes across, the palm slapped on slab, or grooves made by her with pieces of wood … Camin’s command comes from a deep understanding of form and mass, and emotion, so that she can employ such a radical departure and yet remain faithful to her own expression.
- Abraham Ilein, ArtSpeak
Monica Camin [is] reclaiming memories and affirming the self as well as using color and form to create images that restore meaning to life.
- “The Visual Imaginary of Latinas/os in New Jersey” catalogue