Today we’d like to introduce you to Stev Chara.
Hi Stev, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in a very small farming town in upstate NY and was always surrounded by the arts. My grandmother and father are artists themselves and the area I lived is rich in vibrant folk art and local indigenous art. As young as I can remember my life was immersed in the arts. My grandmother had an old house in the middle of nowhere and she had given me this back room in her home that wasn’t renovated to do whatever I wanted. I spent hours in there painting murals and scrawling bad adolescent poetry in the walls. Some of my earliest art memories are in that room. As I got older I started experimenting with styles but struggled to find a ‘home’ in my art. I admired my fathers and grandmothers art so much that for a long time I found I was just trying to replicate it rather than find myself.
In 2019 I found myself on hard times. I was newly sober (12/31/2018) and facing the financial consequences of my addiction. I found myself bouncing between friends couches and a tent. I felt very hopeless despite newly being in recovery but I knew I needed to go through it to grow through it. My one consistent stability through it all was art. I started exploring anatomy, something I’d never really focused my art on prior.
When Covid took the world by storm it was this awakening that forced me to sit down and figure out who I am and how to heal. I faced my own mental health, the roots of my addictive past, and refocus on my own values in this world. Through this healing and journey of self discovery I found that what I once viewed as brokenness inside myself was actually strength.
The majority of my art focuses on women in their various unapologetic forms. My artistic message is that we are whole. We are unique. We are unashamed. We are strong..We are beautifully messy. We are complex. Sometimes we are even walking contradictions. We are everything and more. We deserve to be celebrated.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Absolutely not. I mean, my own mental health struggles and addiction absolutely has impacted my journey. Even to this day I struggle with imposter syndrome. There are days I feel like I’m playing the role of an artist rather than actually being an artist. I just try to remember that I’ve had a lot of positive feedback and support along the way and that I belong where I am. And of course there is the struggle of capitalism. It costs money to create. It’s a weird balance between the business end and creative end of it all. As a free spirited artist type I loathe money but I also understand the very real necessity of it. Although my passion is in my original works I do also create commercial items such as business card designs, custom logos, flyers, holiday cards, really anything anyone needs in graphic design. I’ve had to find ways to utilize me skills to create revenue so I can keep creating and putting my work out there. I do enjoy specifically the logos and business cards though.
It is fun to create something that brings someone else a sense of pride and help them show their own personality in their chosen career field.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My work is mostly erotic art that is woman oriented. I mostly work with alcohol based inks but also dabble in acrylic and water painting. I think what is unique about my work is that I like to work with the negative space in an image. I find a lot symbolism in emphasizing the blank simplicity. Women are complex beings but yet there is a universal simplicity to us as well. I like to symbolically highlight that. Sometimes we get looked at like a code no one can crack when the reality is that the answers are right in front of your face if you just look and listen.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’m not sure I believe much in luck per say. I do however believe there is a path meant for us and that every bump or triumph along the way was meant to be there to aid in the journey. My art wouldn’t be what it is today without what some would consider “bad luck”
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/stev_chara.art
- Other: https://linktr.ee/Stev_Chara.Art
Image Credits
Personal image photo credit cmollenidophoto
