‘Unclaimed Children’ an exhibition from the Canadian artist Trate is showing at Trate Studios in London. Showcasing a series of ethereal portraits, his name is a tongue in cheek reference to the ‘trait’s he paints in the people he has met.
“I’m interested in capturing the different imperfections in people’s faces and bodies and exploring emotive states” explains Trate. “Painting is a way of coming to terms with the existentialism that defines us as humans. Often the art world can seem pretentious and affected – my aim is to draw art back to its most natural and basic form, exploring the raw emotions and feelings within each of us.”
Each portrait as a result is not about capturing the essence of a particular subject. Rather it combines Trate’s raw emotion alongside re-imagined characteristics of people he has met, layering distinctive colour patterns to create enigmatic faces and distorted upper bodies.
Preferring to paint intuitively, the artist works from imagination. Capturing human sensibilities in simple, subconsciously sourced forms. He observes unique characteristics and distinctive elements and combines this with his own raw emotion to chronicle the human condition.
A self taught artist, Trate is also dyslexic and was unable to read as a child. Instead exploring such topics as music, philosophy and painting. His works are bold in colour, drawing on all these elements to create the childlike and ethereal works seen in the exhibition.
‘Unclaimed Children‘ is showing at the Trate Studios, 45 Vyner Street, E2 9DQ from 5 June 2019 to 30 June 2019. A portion of all sales and commissions from the exhibition will go to ‘The Perfect World Foundation‘. A charity which funds reforestation projects to support the habitats of endangered species around the world. Access to the exhibition is by appointment and can be arranged by contacting the Art Director, Stephanie Silva at stephanie@tratestudios.com
For posts from similar artists check out this interview featuring the work of Italian artist Alo.