Swimming

Breathing and art are analogous for me.

I like to transmit my visions of the world and communicate ideas. My subjects range from stray cats and people to weather-worn posters on phone poles and other random objects.

My perspective comes from experimenting with art and travel. At 16, I toted a black and white camera around Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and parts of Guatemala soaking up images of militarization, social despair and human strength. The experience impacted my view of the world and still echoes in my paintings.

In 1990, I moved to Santiago, Chile, for a year and started painting on a daily basis. I was involved with "Grupo Azar" an Argentinean and Chilean Art Collective that also did street theater and demonstrations. I also performed with two bands as a fundraiser for a gay theater group to purchase an old theater. While in Paraguay, I gave ceramics a try, and I studied fashion and textiles in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

La Novia Plumada

Traveling has always enhanced my need to create. As soon as my mind is full of images, it is purged into canvases, drawings, photographs or songs. When I returned to the United States I became deeply interested in Central American politics, Girl rock bands and feminism. I studied art, politics and language at the University of Oregon and got a couple of degrees. I had my first exhibition in my hometown Eugene, OR, in 1992. I had 11 large mixed media on canvas and plastic board that depicted the girl heroes of my local music scene. I also toured and recorded with my first female-band "Adickdid."

From 1993-1995, I lived in Seattle, WA, during the desperate end of the "grunge" music scene, and toured and recorded with two separate all-girl bands: the "Teen Angeles" and "Juned." I continued painting and did several record covers and poster designs. When I moved to Portland later in 1995, I began showing my work on a regular basis.

Girl with Dog

At the end of 1995 I went to southern India to meet my family. I was profoundly affected, among other things, by the iconography used in the Hindi Temples. The overt sexuality -- whether human or animal -- and the strong interrelationship between human and animals depicted by the gods' dual characteristics has also become a recurring theme in my work

After four solo shows in Portland, I moved to Los Angeles in 1998 and have shown work at the Dirt Gallery and Gallery 825, where I won the "Peoples Choice" Award in the Salon du Petit group show. I also have works on quasi-permanent display at the Italian restaurant in Pasadena called the Kitchen.

Recently, I studied art in London and Spain and have opened my focus to working in more contemporary formats of art: small drawings, textbook diaries, found object or ready made sculpture, photography, short films, sound-music and of course, oil paintings.

Flip forward for a slide show presentation of Nalini's work.

You can contact Nalini Cheriel Lotusgrrl@aol.com