Sherry Czekus is a Canadian painter working in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She completed her MFA at University of Western Ontario in London, ON and a Bachelor of Art with Fine Art Studio Specialization at University of Waterloo. She has been a recipient of an Ontario Arts Council grant and Region of Waterloo Arts Fund grant.
The public domain, specifically the city, is a site of observation of urban crowd culture and its participants that Czekus explores through painting.
“My creative process begins outside on the sidewalks of large city centres where I capture images of the urban crowd in its natural habitat; people walking to work, running errands, getting coffee and socializing. Everyday experiences of the crowd performing the mundane reveal a simultaneous representation of traces of our lives. My paintings reflect a kind of social portrait, providing cues to aspects like fashion and electronic technology of the moment.
The paintings are based on my experience in the crowd as I attempt to convey the sensation of my surroundings. Photography, video, collage, and drawing are mediums I use to make studies for paintings although I do so through a painter’s lens. The colour palette developed for a painting begins with a few key colours maybe in a skirt or a bag. The intuitive palette then materializes directly on the canvas. As one colour butts up against another, colour relationships emerge to guide the viewer through the painting.
What inspires me? Visually, it could be anything. I love great colour relationships that happen naturally such as chartreuse trees in spring against a deep mauve grey sky, masses of golden leaves against steel blue clouds in mid-fall and dusk, the in-between time of day and night and the blue light it casts. Family and friends and gatherings. And coffee. And of course I love great art! A few of my favorites are Kathryn MacNaughton, Claire Tabouret and Eric Fischl.” S. Czekus