Worried Shoes, oil on canvas

Clara Fialho makes bright and bubbly artworks that express psychological and experiential concepts that vary among viewers.

Her works on paper are usually created with watercolour and ink. Each image is different and abstract but all carry a common visual theme of rounded shapes coming together and forming larger masses. They are often reminiscent of soap suds, collections of tiny bubbles, each different and modular, but still an intrinsic part of the whole.

Untitled, watercolour and pencil on paper

In her paintings, Fialho is able to coax out a greater degree of colour saturation from her medium. I find this moves the pieces away from the pastel, soapy aesthetic and lends more to a sense of total abstraction. The colours Fialho chooses are beautiful jewel tones. Her sense of positioning is also interesting – the shapes are usually clustered in one off-centre area of the canvas, with streaks of colour bleeding up, out or down. In terms of colour and composition, these paintings are reminiscent of website artist Jeanie Gebhart - but the technique is all Fialho's own. 

Untitled, watercolour and pencil on paper