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Carmen Chami

Artist Statement

“I obsess over the story and I try to express it by painting human behavior via their motivations. In my painting the body, with all its nuances, is the main protagonist. My characters are theatrical and have exaggerated postures, either through their aggressiveness or passivity.”

Biography

Carmen Chami was born in Mexico City and earned her degrees in Art Restoration (B.A. and M.F.A.) from the National University of Mexico (UNAM). Her body of work ranges from figurative narrative compositions to traditional portraits. Since 2000, Chami’s work has been exhibited at museums both nationally and internationally including National Mexican Art Museum, European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM), Gorman Museum of California, Mexican National History Museum, Queretaro’s Art Museum, Wausau Contemporary Art Museum, Guanajuato’s Town Art Museum and Cercle de la Garnison, Quebec. Her paintings are included in important collections such as The Mexican Presidency, Historic Marines Museum, National University of Mexico, The Bennett Collection of Women Realists, Milenio Group and the National Death Museum. In 2018 she was commissioned to paint the Mexican Presidential Portrait of Enrique Peña Nieto. Currently, Ms. Chami resides in Chicago, IL and is represented by Aldama Fine Art of Mexico.