YOUNTVILLE, Calif. — Chris Cammarata, the artist whose vibrant painting “The Art of Wine” brands Yountville’s 12th Art, Sip & Stroll taking place this Saturday, is a master at capturing the essence of the soul in his portraits. His popular work includes celebrities such as Audrey Hepburn, Clint Eastwood and Ray Charles, yet it is his recent work in another direction that caught the eye of Yountville Arts Chair Ronda Schaer.
“Each year, Yountville Arts searches for an intriguing artist to create the art that will represent our upcoming Art, Sip & Stroll event,” Schaer said. “When I talked to Chris about his new Splash Series, I knew we had found the right artist. Our arts team provided input, and Chris went to work on painting a new original, ‘The Art of Wine’ that literally takes your breath away.
Art, Sip & Stroll is the largest outdoor art festival in the Napa Valley, she said, and its organizers have remained steadfast in their mission to bring the finest artists to the heart of the region.
“Not only is it a fabulous art show, but it’s also a great party,” she said. “Guests can enjoy the art, chat with artists and purchase one-of-a-kind pieces while strolling through the event.”
This Saturday 65 juried artists will display art that ranges from paintings to photography, glass art to ceramics, woodwork, metal, jewelry, textiles and sculpture in an array of outdoor booths. In addition to art, the popular walking journey will offer first-class wines from 16 local tasting rooms and wineries as well as live music. Local food vendors will be offering delicious culinary treats for purchase.
Event attendees will have the opportunity to purchase posters of Cammarata’s commemorative piece, visit him and view his other artwork in the Steve Rogers Gallery at 6516 Washington St. In addition to his paintings, small painted-wood sculptures are also in the show. By scanning a code next to each of his pieces, visitors will be able to hear the artist’s recorded thoughts about the work. He also shares the poem he wrote about “Pleading Bear” next to that painting.
“As an artist, this event provides an opportunity to meet local art-lovers, but we also encounter people from all over the country,” Cammarata said. “The turnout is great and puts the artist in front of many lovers of art who are coming to purchase. This is one of the very few events I currently attend every year.”
Last week, during an interview at the Steve Rogers Gallery, where his exhibit “Bold and Beautiful: Contemporary Art of Chris Cammarata” is on display through Aug. 2, he and his wife, artist Lori Sax, talked about his art.
Cammarata grew up in the Bay Area. He was raised in a supportive working environment where he was encouraged to follow his dreams, which led him from small graphic-design jobs to his present fine-art career. His work spans 40 years of artistic expression and can be found in private collections, exclusive international clubs and in the homes of art enthusiasts internationally. He and Sax currently live in Napa.
In 2019 Prince Albert II of Monaco commissioned him to create two paintings of his mother, Princess Grace (Kelly), to commemorate her 90th birthday, and they were put on exhibit at the Palace of Monaco. Cammarata and his wife went to a party at the palace, where they presented the paintings to the prince.
“It was amazing,” Cammarata said. “We’re still floating off the ground. It was like a dream come true for an artist to have something commissioned by the palace of Monaco.”
Cammarata is no stranger to painting the rich and famous. Most of his paintings of Marilyn Monroe portray the light and playful image that was fostered by Hollywood, but some of his work goes beyond the typical. In “Marilyn’s Soul” he sought to capture “the real Marilyn.” Her expression appears to be longing for her mind to be at peace.
“Marilyn Monroe is a true American icon,” he said, pointing to his “Marilyn’s Mask” painting, “even to this day and around the globe. This painting brings out the darker side and the tough parts of Hollywood. Each scene across the filmstrip covering her mouth silences her from telling the world what it is like to be iconic.”
He intentionally left her face blank in each well-known image on the filmstrip.
But famous people aren’t his only subjects. For his Veil Series he looks for beautiful faces when searching for an image, capturing the eyes first and building his piece around it, Sax said.
In that series he shows off semi-bright colors of flowers contouring to the facial features of his subjects. He uses a thinned gouache to allow him to maintain the accurate facial subtleties of his subject while he layers with light flowers that add a unique energy and brightness in each painting. He also adds symbols in the grid around these paintings.
“In my ‘Wonderland’ painting Alice had a unique out-of-body experience,” Cammarata said. “In the grids you can see a pocket watch, cards, red heart – all represented with LSD.”
“Pleading Bear,” different from his other paintings in the show, deals with humanity’s loss of civility.
Visitors to the Steve Rogers Gallery can also see the vibrant paintings in his Splash Series, which will be on exhibit for three months.
“Chris started the Splash Series a few months before Ronda asked him to represent Art, Sip & Stroll,” Sax said. “He has always been intrigued with liquids and water. He has done things around water like frogs. So he decided to try wine.”
Her husband added: “When I was asked to create these pieces, I was tasked with incorporating art into becoming wine. Stylized prose creating magical explosions of wine coming from the glass – salute to wine glasses clinking together.”
Cammarata credits his wife with being his inspiration.
“Lori is without a doubt my muse,” Cammarata said. “She believes in me to her bones, and I will be forever grateful.”
Though Cammarata had a long and successful career in art before meeting his wife, through her influence he began painting on canvas.
“I saw a talent in him that he didn’t realize he had,” Sax said. “He had been painting in digital. I convinced him to paint on canvas. His first canvas was no good, but his second canvas — a Marilyn Monroe — was a big hit. This is his seventh year of painting mostly portraits on canvas.”
“I’ve never taken an art class,” Cammarata said. “I’m one of those guys growing up who had all the books on how to draw hands, eyes, nose, how to draw this and that, how to draw structure — always figurative and I was constantly drawing. As a teenager I spent a lot of time in my room with those kinds of books. I never got a book on how to draw a building or a tree. To me, it is faces.”
And now all of his hard work has paid off.
“Painting is something I will continue to do until I can’t do it anymore,” Cammarata said. “I am pursuing galleries across the U.S and looking forward to a beautiful life of painting, sailing and Lori.”
Hours at the Steve Rogers Gallery are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with weekends and evenings available by appointment.
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Rosemarie Kempton is a Napa Valley-based journalist.
Looking forward to seeing Chris Cammarata's art at the Sip & Stroll. What a wonderfully , informative article.
So great to read a story by Rosie.