Siena Gillann Porta

Artist Statement for Solo exhibition at NOHO M55 Gallery, Chelsea, NYC

                                   SHOWING UP-ACTS OF WITNESS

This exhibition offers a perspective on healing; artworks that engage cancer, karate and splendor. Represented are paintings, installation sculpture, oil pastel and gestural figure drawings which comprise my most recent body of work. Some of the artworks are autobiographical in content, others are explorations into the immediacy of martial arts and the joy of drawing.

Both cancer and karate can be transformative life experiences. The discipline, focus, and physical rigor of karate became a means of regaining my strength and dealing with my anger as well as a source of visual and conceptual inspiration. The  paintings, drawings, and installations in this exhibition reflect both states of being and bodies in motion.

SGP 8/08/25