Theresa Chromati (born 1992) is an American visual artist of
Guyanese descent, whose primary medias are painting and collage. She is from
Baltimore, Maryland, and lives in
Brooklyn, New York.[1][2]
Background and career
Theresa Chromati, who was born in 1992, grew up in East Baltimore. She attended
Wilmington's
Delaware College of Art and Design, and holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design from
Pratt Institute (2014), New York, where she currently lives.[1] Her parents nurtured a creative environment at home, and hand-painted birds in the family car themselves.[3]
Artistic practice
Through an abstract figurative approach to painting and collage, Chromati comments on Black femininity and womanhood as key subjects for her artistry. In her work she combines using acrylic paint with industrial materials such as glitter and vinyl, in addition to organic materials such as silk, cotton and bandanas that evoke Western African textiles and patterns.[4][5] Among her themes, her artworks elaborate on issues of self-representation, and female objectification in the digital world, particularly in the
Me Too era.[6] Chromati was selected by visual artist
Mickalene Thomas for her curatorial project Mickalene Thomas: A Moment's Pleasure, at the
Baltimore Museum of Art, the exhibition was on view between 2019 and 2022.[7]
In an essay for the
Studio Museum in Harlem's magazine, art critic Eric Booker comments on Chromati's practice.[9]
"Through her genre-bending practice, Chromati's protagonists refuse to be one-dimensional. Their potential is too vibrant to be traditionally understood. Her work is an act of love and defiance."[9]
Exhibitions
Solo shows
2023Theresa Chromati: A Living Record ( Her Arrival Was Once Steps Taken), Jessica Silverman Gallery,
San Francisco[10]
2022Interlude in Crusted Wounds, Veta Galeria,
Madrid, Spain[11]
Stepping Towards My Darkest Bits to Hear a Familiar Song. The Words Have Changed, But the Melody Caresses Me All the Same (Woman Led by Her Intuition, Supported by Scrotum Flowers), 2020.
Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland[15]
Awards
In 2020, Chromati was commissioned to paint the facade of The Delaware Contemporary in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the
women's suffrage in America. Although scheduled for June 5 of that year, the public art project had its opening celebrated with a public "drive-thru" on June 19 in support of the
Black Lives Matter movement, and anti-police brutality protests taking place all over the country in the summer months of 2020.[16]