Charissa

CAN Review – Charissa is an artist with an imaginative use of composition and style that combines graceful line with subtle colour work and tone. Her ‘Flower Bed’ series exudes a peaceful dreamlike quality with the protagonist calmy set within an array of flowers. Charissa’s characters often look into the neutral space of the canvas rather than engage with the viewer directly. The addition of small stars in the background adds a sense of spiritual wonder and contemplation in the series.

Her ‘Galaxy Girls’ enamel pins (please see below) are an interesting addition to the NFT landscape, and the clean elegant lines of her characters work well within the properties of the materials used. The dreamlike quality of her Flower Bed series can also be seen within the characters serene expressions and star shapes in the hair of the enamel portraits.

The final piece ‘Shadow Work’ (please see below) is a subtle animation that once again exhibits Charissa’s incredibly fluid line work and mastery of composition and space. However the theme of the work takes on a more sombre or disturbing quality, as the protagonist in the animation gazes at her shadow, which seems to stare back at her with matching eye blinks. The surreal scene could be one that is merely depicting a different type of serenity, whereby the protagonist is contemplating life, but Charissa cleverly allows the viewer to determine their own thoughts on the work.

Charissa’s work can only be seen on the excellent Ghostmarket NFT marketplace at the moment. CAN hope that her upcoming work on Kalamint.io will help to announce her work to more audiences and prospective collectors.

Name
Charissa

Social media links and website profiles
twitter: @_charissao
instagram: @charissa.o

NFT Website: https://ghostmarket.io/artist/pha/charissao/

What is your background as an artist in general?
Hi there! I’m Charissa, a multidisciplinary visual artist who creates dreamy and surreal paintings. I also do freelance work like commissioned artwork, illustrations, or graphic designs. I’ve studied art and business in university, but I’m mostly self-taught and I’m excited to learn more on my journey as an artist.

What is your overall process in generating art?
My process involves brainstorming ideas of what stories, feelings, or messages I want to convey. Once I have an idea in mind, I collect some visual research for inspiration to inform the direction and style of my piece. From there, I open my sketchbook and draw out some concepts, and if there’s something I like then I bring it into Photoshop to flesh it out. I tend to use similar themes in my work like surreal, celestial, nature, flowing lines, and female figures. My first NFT illustrations  “Flower Bed” started out in a similar way, except that I was inspired by a poem written by my friend and I wanted to capture that feeling throughout this series.

How would you describe your art in your own words?
I have usually described it as surreal and dreamy. I’d add calming, relaxing, and mystery to that list too.

Favourite artists / influences?
One of my early influences is Keita Morimoto, who creates large-scale paintings of people in urban scenes. I love his use of colour and how he captures expressions and locations in a classical but contemporary style.

Another favourite artist of mine is Miles Johnston, who is known for his surreal and emotive pencil drawings. I admire the way he transforms figures to express a range of human emotions.

How did you discover the new blockchain world of Crypto Art and NFTs in general?
I have heard about crypto currency like Bitcoin but have never heard about NFTs until the beginning of this year. I was first introduced to GhostMarket, and then later discovered other websites like Rarible or Superrare. I was intrigued by the idea of creating artwork, toys, and collectibles—things that I like to physically own—but for a digital space.

Has the digital nature of cryptoart NFTs changed how you approach your art practice?
Since this year, I have been creating more art digitally than I have in the past. The process in which I create art has remained the same, but the NFT space inspired me take my work to the next level—to make things I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t involved. For example, I’ve always wanted to design my own enamel pins, and with the collectible nature of NFTs, I knew I had to make them but in a digital format.

I also thought about ways in which I can elevate my work and make it more immersive. I haven’t touched animation in a while but I decided to play around with it and create an animated NFT piece.

As an artist, my work is constantly evolving and being exposed to a multitude of amazing artists in the NFT community inspires me to think about what I can do with my art. Perhaps I’ll dive into 3D or motion design next… We’ll see!

What if anything, has surprised you about this new area of art practice?
NFTs have shifted the way that people can expose, view, and own artwork. Unlike the traditional method of selling artwork, artists are not dependent on being represented by a gallery. It cuts out the middleman and empowers artists to represent themselves. Being involved in this space has made me realize the importance of having some business/marketing experience since the responsibility of gaining exposure is placed more heavily on artist outreach and engagement.

How would you like the field of cryptoart and nfts to evolve over time?
Since it’s fairly new, I think that crypto art is still settling in and finding its place. When I first entered the space, there were so many steps it was a bit overwhelming to get started. Hopefully the process to mint and buy NFTs will evolve to be more accessible, streamlined, and easy to understand for newcomers. There’s so much potential for crypto art and I’m sure there will be some innovative ideas that will come from it. We have already seen NFT gallery spaces, NFT augmented reality, and it definitely helps that the community is so supportive.

How can access and information to this new field of art practice be encouraged?
Similar to my previous answer, I think the process of obtaining and owning crypto could be more streamlined. In my experience, the NFT community is super supportive and informative which is another factor that encouraged me to get involved in the space.

Anything you’d like to say that this form hasn’t covered?
Thank you for reading!