RJD Gallery | 8/1-9/2 | Romeo, MI

Acts of Innocence

RJD Gallery turns its attention to children with the group show To be Seen and Heard: Small Stories of Children in Art

It’s been said that children are blank slates. They are untouched by the world, and their souls have not yet been weathered and etched by the toils of life. They are pure and innocent. It’s for these reasons, and many others, that children have made fascinating art subjects, both now in the present day and for hundreds, even thousands, of years in the past.

Juan Béjar, Desde La Cuna, oil on wood panel, 18 x 15"

RJD Gallery turns its attention to children with the group show To be Seen and Heard: Small Stories of Children in Art, which opens August 1 in Romeo, Michigan. Artists in the show are from around the world: Andrei Zadorine, Tor-Arne Moen, Jose Antonio Bernad, Juan Bejar, Jhina Alvarado and Kim Simonsson.

“Children are, arguably, the greatest storytellers,” says Joi Jackson Perle, RJD’s gallery director. “With their unbridled imaginations and outsized emotions, they epitomize living authentically. What better way to capture the beauty and exuberance of childhood than through art? These artists do so with exceptional skill.”

Andrei Zadorine, Eifka’s World, oil on canvas, 9½ x 11 7/8”

For Alvarado, her young subjects allow her to explore expressions of happiness. “Children have a way of showing you the simple joys in life. I remember a time when just running, whether in circles or after each other, was so much fun for my twins. Or when cutting up paper into a million pieces could take up hours for them. You tend to lose that awe of watching tiny pieces of paper fall everywhere once you get older and I want to capture these moments and remind people of those simple pleasures we’ve forgotten about through the hustle and bustle of daily life,” she says. “Additionally, with adults it’s about capturing what they’ve been through that has shaped who they are, whereas with children, there are endless possibilities of who they can become…With children, they are still these ever-changing, moldable beings who haven’t had the stress of paying bills or doing well at their jobs. These are their formative years, when their lives can go in a million directions. It’s capturing their potential and imagining who they will be that makes them interesting subjects and why I enjoy painting them.”

Jhina Alvarado, Paper Dolls, oil and 22k gold leaf on wood panel, 36 x 36"

One of Alvarado’s works, Paper Dolls, shows that paper-cutting playtime activity, something her own kids would do. “It’s about finding pleasure in something as simple as a piece of paper and relying on our imagination. It is also about interconnection. Much like when we create a paper doll chain, each cut relies on the other in order to keep the chain together and shows how interconnected our actions and decisions are in forming who we are.”

For Moen, he paints children at play outside near the water. The works, including Beach, Suspenders, and Ice Cream,have a strong summertime vibe. “The child on the beach is one of several prehistoric images that, I believe, would have been recognized by both cave dwellers and modern man. Visual artists often seek out these types of primeval yet eternal images in their search for motifs. Although the subject is often just a pretext for painting, this does not mean that the subject is without significance,” he says of the work. “And the child on the beach, in the sun, in the summertime, is another image that most people in historical times would have been able to identify with and, to this day, will continue to do so.”

Tor-Arne Moen, Beach, Suspenders, and Ice Cream, egg oil tempera on canvas, 35½ x 35½"

On the subject of children, Moen sees art in the way they play and interact with the world. “Child’s play is very similar to what artists do. Artists are always playing in some way, amazed by the world and their own experience in it. Throughout the history of art, artists have used their own childhood and their own children as subjects in their creations because they are, quite simply, a natural part of life. And constantly having live models around is an endless source for the eager eye of the artist,” he says. “I’m always looking for motifs, and even more so when I don’t know what to paint. When I paint a child in the sun, on a beach—let’s say it’s a boy—it can be me, my brother, my father, or my son or grandson. There is a wonderful, connecting motif there that painters will be sure to carry forward as long as there are beaches, children and painters.”

Andrei Zadorine, Wonderment, oil on canvas, 9½ x 11 7/8"

Like several of the other artists in the show, Bernad sees innocence in his youthful subjects. This can lead to new exploration in paint. “There is truth to the idea that children, not yet burdened by the experiences and complexities of adulthood, can be seen as more innocent and unburdened subjects. They often approach life with an openness and lack of prejudice that is refreshing and evocative. This lack of overthinking makes their inner world more accessible as a subject matter for painting,” he says. “[My painting] The Search depicts a scene of a young teenager attempting to catch fish in a pond with murky waters. Hints of orange beneath the murky surface suggest the presence of elusive fish. It certainly tries to capture the youthful essence of adventure and exploration, portraying the teenager’s determination and curiosity in his quest.”

Tor-Arne Moen, This Year’s Challenge, egg oil tempera on canvas, 35½ x 35½"

Zadorine says he uses child subjects because his own memories as a child are strong for him, and continue to reverberate through his life. “It is difficult for me to articulate exactly why I began to paint works related to childhood. Perhaps this is due to the fact that childhood memories are the most vivid. My first independent work depicted a boy with a can of milk crossing a bridge…It was like me…When I was 13 years old, our family moved to the capital from the suburbs. I had difficulty adjusting to a new rhythm and relationships, and this divided my life into ‘before’ and ‘after.’ The farther that time moved away, the more fabulous it became for me. For me, what is important in art is not so much the storyline as the feeling and atmosphere.”