Denise Carletta

Mill Valley-based artist Denise Carletta expresses an emotionality in her figures that one cannot help but want to examine. In themselves and as a mirror of our own experience. 

From the artist: "I grew up in the 60's in New York. Like the city, my family was also large and loud. In our house at least two people were always talking or shouting over the city's sirens and car horns. That's probably why I gravitated toward painting; I could express myself without competition. Visual storytelling is a longstanding tradition of the arts. For aeons we have used painting to share what we see and what it means to be alive in that moment. While studying abroad in Greece and Italy, imagery of the ancient artists inspired me to create legends and myths of my own.

Denise Carletta Clay Human Sculpture

My art is steeped in the tradition of contemporary, figurative drawing, specifically portraiture. Using a combination of mediums, such as pencil, charcoal, paint, clay and resin, layers naturally occur in my work. Through this stratum of mark-making, personas emerge in a captured moment. True stories, moral tales or something left unsaid, between all of the above my characters sway in an ambiguous world constructed of scraped paint, erased lines, pinched clay and smudged marks.

Layers of dark and light create who we are. Layers of dark and light create my work. The physical, external process of putting pencil to paper, brush to panel, molding clay, portrays and mirrors my internal experience of life, a kind of geography of the soul. Like life, it is my hope that the viewer's perception of my work shifts with each viewing, changes as they change, adding and subtracting from the story. Above all, it is this exchange, the interpretive process of sharing, I hold most high. Without it, there is no art, there is nothing to be said or heard."

Denise Carletta Torso Female Terracotta Clay Figure Sculpture 
Torso 4 Female / 5"L x 4W x 2"D

Denise Carletta Torso 4 Female Figure Sculpture Side View
Torso 4 Female Side View

Denise Carletta Torso 4 Clay Female Figure Scultpure In progress
Torso 4 Female in progress

Sold Works
Woman in Green
Blue Female
Blue Male
Fallen Wood 6
Crystal Bust
Fallen Wood 4
Fallen Wood 1
Fallen Wood 5
Woman in Blue 2
Fallen Wood 8
Fallen Wood 9

This new series follows the shapes of the fallen wood Denise has collected. The sensuous form in Vol 1, a large female sculpture (22" long), shows the beauty of the figure and the edges of the woods.

This new series follows the shapes of the fallen wood Denise has collected. Vol 6 is such an emotive sculpture with its standing female figure composed with burnt wood. Mounted on stone.

This new sculpture series follows the shapes of the fallen wood Denise has collected. Vol 5 is a graceful female figure in a pose.
Denise Carletta Human Sculpture Female Figure in Clay and Wood
Denise Carletta Clay Figure Sculpture Woman in Painted Green
Denise Carletta painterly figurative Woman in Blue clay sculpture is compelling, emotive and provocative. This is two in a series of sculptures using exposed armature.
The head angle of this pinched pottery clay bust is full of emotion and combined with the found objects, you have one bold piece of sculpture by Denise Carletta
Artist Denise Carletta made her Resting Male Figure sculpture to lay on the surface of a side table, book shelf, on top of a stack of artist books on your coffee table. The form is compelling, emotive and provocative.

Learn More
Read about Denise Carletta in our Conversations with an Artist.
CV

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