TABLE SERIES

The Table Series is a body of work, actively in progress.  These particular paintings depict a lower-middle class Italian-American family who spent a lot of time around the kitchen table.  The “table” or more specifically, the kitchen table in each painting represents the institution of the family unit, the tradition of culture, and the important role it played as the gathering place for the family to come together in times of celebration.  The objects on the tables have a deeper meaning that go far beyond culture.  Some of the objects and half eaten food act as a vanita or memore-morte, signifying death for those family members who had passed on, and the incessant disappearance of the present into the past.  People and moments come to an end, yet time does not.

The theme is not only an insight about the artists childhood memories and cultural experiences, but also as a reflection of how simple life used to be.  “We had little, but we had a lot because we had each other.”  The openings or hallway entrances symbolizes a corridor to the past or memories of long ago.  This dimension to the past is depicted in the flat-deepness of empty color.  The scenes or settings of The Table Series can be described not only as a pictorial composition but also as a stage, with the figures as the main focus or the leading actors, while the food and objects on the table are the supporting cast.  The source of inspiration is the family photo albums.  These faded photographs are more than just a scrapbook of old photos, they are a pictorial history of the artists existence and act more as little windows of captured moments in time, where the loud conversations and laughter can still be heard, and the love felt among the family.  Where the photos lack as a source of visual reference, the artist relies on technical drawing skills, memory and/or imagination to create the illustrated scenery.

Fumero’s primary goal is to share these personal and special moments in paint with the public, with the hope that those who look upon The Table Series will also feel the spirit and loving energy of Fumero’s family and transcend these visual images into an aesthetic connection brought on by the viewer’s own nostalgic family moments from the past.

[Show as slideshow]