 "Photo: Jameshia Jefferson")
"Swing Your Empire" is Roger Chamieh’s cutting edge art exhibition. He delivers a dynamic show with finesse, and challenges preconceived notions of fixed sculpture. His uniquely provocative and strangely beautiful display stimulates viewers to think outside the box.
From physical education to English, Chamieh's career interests were ambiguous until he took his first sculpture class. “That one sculpture class got me hooked,” said Chamieh. “I thought…. THIS IS IT. THIS IS ALL I WANT. Then everything went from blurry to being focused.” Years later, Chamieh is still in love with his work which has significantly transformed into a more sophisticated form over the years. As an instructor of drawing and sculpture at HCC’s school of visual arts, he is happy to do work that benefits his art by constantly keeping him in an artistic frame of mind.
Using a variety of materials from latex to steel, Chamieh's show is a combination of energy and emotion captured in sculpture. His sculpture mutates and progresses with one piece inspiring the next. This progression is reflected in the way most of his pieces project such as the daughter-inspired, “Vector Z” and the encapsulating, "Eventually You Will Say Something of Interest."
“Corazon” is a viewer favorite for it elegant symmetry and perhaps for the metaphor it presents. “Maybe it represents freedom, maybe it means that something has left or has gotten away and the door is opened to let it back in,” said Chamieh. “But I’m not going to give you the answer.” Something the artist is adamant about is that art is a lot more interesting and powerful when the viewer makes of it his own meaning.
Until a piece is completed, Chamieh never knows exactly what he will end up with. The artist is still trying to understand his latest piece, "Swing Your Empire," which is his favorite possibly because it has yet to lose its novelty.
“My work has changed continuously, but the interest towards precariousness and impermanence has interested me from the beginning,” said Chamieh, "alot of my work comes from that place where nothing stays the same." This idea is represented by spontaneity and movement is what captivates the interest of both th artist and his viewers.
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