Artist Statement

Cybele Gerachis grew up in Washington D.C., and after several detours landed in Oakland, CA where she has lived for the last 18 years. She comes from a family of artists who exposed her to painting at an early age. As an art educator and practicing artist, Cybele believes in the transformative power of the creative process. She has participated in the design and execution of several public murals in both Oakland and San Francisco, as well as developed integrative programming for art education initiatives in the East Bay.

Her artwork straddles the border between dreams and reality, building narrative and surface from fragments of old photographs, children's storybooks, vintage paper dolls, and other ephemera. The figures stand at the threshold, actively engaging the viewer in the story. “Animal/human hybrids suggest our inherent duality and our complex internal universe. These creatures manifest our secrets, our shadow sides, and help expose the light and dark to one another.”

Her process is mostly spontaneous, “I begin with a spark, a chance encounter with an image from my collection that expands and contracts as I add and subtract paint and paper, as layers are born so are their stories, one belying another.” She enjoys using collage because it deepens the textural and tactile experience, while also conveying a sense of time. She will often sand several surfaces away exposing fragments and different textures and then loosely add more paint, reshaping the story once again.