Decorative Encaustic Anthropomorphic Animal Portraits by Kari Serrao

Toronto based artist Kari Serrao grew up in Caribbean. She graduated from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto in 1991, and spent the final year in an off campus program in Florence Italy.

Kari specializes in encaustic paintings where colored pigments are added into hot wax before it is applied to a wood surface although other materials are often used. Her ongoing series of encaustic anthropomorphic portraits explore the relationship we humans have with other humans during a particularly turbulent time. In "The Whimsical Woodland" animals are depicted in costumes from the time in the history when the battle for supremacy and survival was never ending. The animals are portrayed with their ordinarily perceived adversaries in total harmony with decorative backgrounds. These backdrops got more elaborate in the following series "Gilded Garden" for which Kari began to use gold leaf halos "while not intrinsically religious, is a nod to Byzantine Art while the foliate pattern speaks to seasonal change." The limited edition prints can be found in her online store.