Vision Quest
oil on canvas, 60x72
2010
Artist Claire Torina
From the collection of Kevin Sharp
Torina earned her BFA from the University of Memphis in 2009, and went on to pursue a graduate degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2008, she was awarded a fellowship to attend the prestigious Yale Summer School of Art, a 6-week residency program in Norfolk, Connecticut where she worked directly with internationally acclaimed artists An My Le, Jessica Stockholder, Sam Messer, and critic/historian Robert Storr. She has also shown locally, nationally, and abroad for several years. A self-portrait, Vision Quest is representative of a psychologically dramatic depiction of the figure in an exquisite visual aesthetic reminiscent of the Hudson River School compositions of Thomas Cole. The title refers to the practice of various Native American cultures in which an individual discovers their spiritual identity through an immersive experience of nature. The daughter of artist John Torina, she is an artist that matches masterful technique with a compelling sense of fiction all her own.
