“Comfortable in My skin – A Sign of Our Times”
Artist’s Statement:

“A world of diversity and color opened up to me, when I was first introduced to African Americans in Buloxi, Mississippi while competing as Miss Montana USA in the Miss USA pageant in 1981. Growing up in Montana was fantastic but racial diversity was scarce. My portrait painters’ eye was ignited when I saw for the first time, the raw beauty and contrast of black skin next to my own white skin. I was struck dumbfounded when I realized there were more similarities than differences. I knew then, as an artist, that I had something profound to say. Ten years later I had the chance to do a photo shoot with choice models. And over the next ten years, I began putting them together on canvas. After a twenty year commitment to the project, I am unveiling the multi-cultural, 15 piece collection of “Comfortable in my Skin – A Sign of our Times”. I feel the time is ripe, the time is now – during the Barack Obama era, when the birth of racial co-existence is steadily beginning to grow, to tell a visual story of human discord and the rhythm of the races.

I finished the 15 piece mural in a limited palette of deep reds, soft browns and black that all match each other, so that when on display in a huge room, they fit together like a puzzle. The acrylic and oil images twist around each other telling 30 different stories open to interpretation. Sensual, semi-erotic undertones emphasize the strong irresistible pull of human magnetic energy – a pull towards each other – always present, innate.

It is my hope that a corporation or individual collector champions the powerful visual message by acquiring the collection in its entirety, keeping it together as a single statement to use as a flagship of their own. Encouraging the racial co-existence idea to multiply, I am offering signed, numbered, limited edition Giclee prints, furthering the acceptance of all people as one. These paintings stand as a beacon of America in the new millennium.”

Cathi Locati
cathi@cathilocati.com
www.cathilocati.com

Images