By Sara Kay
“The ‘Stitches and Staples’ is my favorite. It’s not technically the best but it shows the direction I want. It’s off the canvas. I don’t want to fight with my painting; I want to go with it.” Christina Makrakis, a senior painting major, describes the paintings in her show, “Adrenaline,” featured in Calkins Hall. She added that her paintings are a result of the inspiration of several things, including the use of different types of surfaces. “The use of different surfaces was mostly monetary reasons, but I also wanted to see what it would look like. I wanted to incorporate background color and have it do some of the work for me.”
Wearing a black blouse, dark blue jeans and carrying a pair of pumps in her hands, Makrakis talks about the different pieces in her collection, and how each aspect comes together. “My drawing started a year ago, but I started painting these in September,” she said, setting out plates and cups on a table outside the exhibit. “My paintings are futuristic, as well as cubist. I had seen the work of Matta, a Chilean artist who works in France and was also highly influenced from the Minoans from Crete, which is where my family is from. That’s where I get my color palette.”
Diana Jaramillo, a junior biology major at SUNY Albany, stood by Makrakis at the snack table, helping her slice cheese and pita bread, talking about how proud she is of her talented friend. “Her paintings are so beautiful, and I’m so proud of Christina for displaying them. She’s an excellent artist and I’m glad she could do it.”
Walking through the “Adrenaline” exhibit, one is faced with a number of different pieces. From left to right, the intensity of the colors and designs heightens, starting with drawings done in pencil and ending with a giant canvas filled with vibrant colors, that Makrakis said is focused a lot on light. “Stained glass and the light coming through. It’s the transformation of colors around the canvas, and the grays are so important. They play with the rest of the colors. There are swatches of energy through it.”
While the colorful paintings in the gallery catch the artistic eye, the literal writing on the wall serves as another glance into Makrakis’s inspiration to her paintings. The title of her show, “Adrenaline,” is the name of a song by Gavin Rossdale, a former member of the alternative rock band Bush. Written on the door of the gallery in silver paint, it is the first piece of art work that Makrakis uses to bring the viewer into her show. “As I was working on the pieces, I was trying to think of a title. My paintings are futurist; futurists do dynamism and energy, as well as the human body. I focus on the human body in my art, and I realized this song was perfect,” said Makrakis.
“Adrenaline is energy,” she said. “It’s the power to keep moving, and it works with the content of my work. It was a no-brainer at the end of the day.”
University senior Christina Makrakis poses with one of her pieces from the “Adrenaline” exhibit in Calkins Hall.