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Face facts
Chrystal Woodson flaunts the faces of her family and her confluence of heritages in paintings on display this weekend.
By DAWN EDEN
Offoffoff.com
Chrystal Laurie Quinones Woodson, who signs her paintings "Q," is a
young artist whose paintings celebrate her multicultural heritage and are
often quite literally in-your-face.
She calls her facial studies
"physiognomy," and they fit the definition of that term in its most classic
sense. Most of her subjects are nonwhite, and she shies away from
traditional Western concepts of attractiveness, asserting that "beauty comes
in all forms. It does not depend on the outside stuff, the structure of bone
or tone of skin, but rather, the face acts as carrier to what lies beneath
it."
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| CHRYSTAL WOODSON |
Paintings by: Chrystal Woodson.
Related links:
Official site
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| SCHEDULE |
Caribbean Cultural Center
Sat., March 25, 2000, 12-3 p.m.
408 West 58th St. (between 9th and 10th Aves.)
(212) 307-7420
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To that end, she finds the beauty in so-called ethnic characteristics
like broad noses and full lips, conveying the depth of her subjects'
personalities in a way that is sensual without being vulgar. This Saturday,
March 25, between 12 and 3 p.m., Manhattan's Caribbean Cultural Center
hosts an afternoon of Q's art and poetry, with music and food provided as
well.
Q says that her interest in physiognomy began when she was a child and
would watch her mother apply makeup: "She was teaching me, whether she
realized it or not, how to draw. After applying the foundation, rouge,
mascara, lips, she'd look at me and say, 'Now I sign my autograph at the
bottom of this face — a masterpiece!' "
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| | Chrystal Woodson, aka "Q."
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"I believe all-over-global is beautiful," she continues, "whatever the
form, color or texture. Until we start seeing this overall beauty
collectively, little girls will be suffering psychologically — and physically
too — the vicious trauma of self-hatred."
"I can't fight Euro-enthusiasm,
though. I can only promote Afro-centricity and third-world identity. I am
Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern. Afro-Caribbean, Native and European. I
am beautiful, too, but I don't trip over it anymore."
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MARCH 21, 2000
OFFOFFOFF.COM • THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
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| IMAGE GALLERY |
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