Chloe Ruggiero

Headshot of Chloe Ruggiero

Vibrant Intimacy

Thesis Statement

People fascinate me. I often find myself drawn to people watching whenever I can’t hone in on what I’m doing, and over time it’s led to me catching myself simply staring at my friends. They are, after all, the people with the most influence in my day to day life. The realization that I am actively paying attention is what I latched onto; they slowly but surely became the subjects of my paintings. I intend to represent the interactions/relationships I have with the people in my immediate circle, as well as their relationships/interactions with one another, through unique color choice and usage, transparency, and texture.

Being a human being today means something entirely different than it did just a hundred years ago: phones provide instant connection, life is generally more stressful, and endless information is available at any time. It can be overwhelming, and it’s easy for me to get bogged down by everything that I can’t control in life. My peers and friends are some of the most reliable people to remind me that being alive is beautiful. It’s not always as technicolor and intense as I tend to depict in my scenes, but simply being around other people has the ability to completely dictate my mood. I want to place an emphasis on the people that I am choosing to portray; by using a variety of thicknesses in my paint and manipulating my compositions I can manufacture and create specific moods in each piece. The inclusion of the people in my inner circle, and people that also know one another, is an intentional choice that I hope to emphasize through eye contact. This creates implied lines throughout the works, able to smoothly lead the eye around the painting. Since the ideas I am aiming to portray aren’t specific to a background, I aim to create pieces that are central to the figure, the space secondary. Not with neglect, but with a smaller amount of detail in order to draw the people in the composition forward.

painting of a group of people talking close up of a person in glasses close up of three people, one looking down at another person, one looking to the right, and the last facing the front. close up of a person looking to the left. close up of arms interlocked on another person's body close up of a person's hand opened in front of another person

A Conversation About Caroline, Oil on Canvas, 36" x 48", 2024

painting of two people with a cat where the person on the left is holding the cat. painting of a person holding a cat close up of a person looking at another person holding a cat

Sarah and the Doctor, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 18", 2024

painting of two people and a cat where the cat is in the foreground close up of a person looking at a cat close up of a cat

Jaby (left), Oil on Canvas, 24" x 18", 2024

painting of a girl facing the left holding her head. close up of a person in glasses holding her head close up of a person's elbow as she holds her head

Bee (right), Oil on Canvas, 24" x 18", 2024

portrait of a man laying in bed close up of a man laying in bed close up of the shirt of a man laying in bed

Brandon's Repose, Oil on Canvas, 24" x 18", 2024

painting of two cats and a man facing the computer screen on the right close up of cat looking at computer screen close up of a person looking at computer screen close up of a computer screen