Coffee Talk: Cofea arabica & The Art of Erica Chappuis

For years now I've been painting with coffee at No Such Animal Studios as an artistic medium and continuously on the watch for emerging or recently discovered (by me at least) artists who also enjoy non-traditional mediums such as coffee. From time to time a few pop-up and every once in a while that pop-up is very noteworthy as is the case with Erica Chappuis.

When painting with coffee I chose to paint scenes of coffee culture starting in the United States with hopes of traveling the world to other cultures and coffee producing nations. I wanted to show how this commodity was used and it's influences on different walks of life with very different customs and ideas. This project is still in the works.

This notion that technique for technique's sake is fine to a point but art should have a higher purpose and I feel that as with my notion of painting world coffee cultures using coffee as an artistic medium Erica Chappuis shares a similar view of art.

Running across Chappuis's Blog Une Vie d'Artiste and her recent work showcased in the entry Cofea arabica was very refreshing in a way that Starbucks could never be again! Her work not just in coffee is very graceful, warm, inviting, full of meaning and life, and sensual. A must see!

Quote from Chappuis's Une Vie d'Artiste (Cofea arabica)

". . . I don't look at a simple painting in an unusual technique as quite enough. For me, it is an element in a painting which should speak in some way which heightens the subject matter with which I am dealing."

Chappuis has discovered what several coffee painters have enjoyed over the years. Coffee helps produce wonderfully warm and inviting images with it's near sepia effect. The types of effects achieved with different coffee techniques is as varied as the possible subject matter and styles.

What sets Erica Chappuis apart from some artists is not just how well rendered her images seem but the warmth and emotional impact of the people in the paintings as well as the strong concept behind Erica's artistic philosophy.

Quote from Chappuis's Une Vie d'Artiste (Cofea arabica)

"I hadn't worked with coffee at all, and it is a beverage with a definitely rich history, much of it Arab and African. The fragrance of it is familiar, warm and comforting. It can signify hospitality in a lonely place - pretty much all over the world."

For more information on Erica Chappuis and her work please visit her Website The Art of Erica Chappuis (http://pages.prodigy.net/erica.chappuis/). Below is some information from her site about the artist.

From Erica Chappuis's Website: The Art of Erica Chappuis

"Erica Chappuis was born in Washington DC . She began taking yearly summer courses at the Corcoran School of Art and studying with independent Washington area artists at age thirteen. In high school she was selected for a special, experimental course in portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution - the first of its kind offered by the Smithsonian."

"Chappuis graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She traveled to Switzerland, where she married, and thus gained dual nationality."

"Chappuis has been a practicing artist ever since, specializing in erotic and sensual subjects. She is represented in many private collections. Museum representation includes the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the Erotic Art Museum in Barcelona, Spain and the collection of the Kinsey Institute for Research, Gender, and Reproduction, Indiana University. Her work has been featured on the PBS television programs, "Video Detroit" and "Backstage Pass". She is listed in several books, including erotic art books, and Marquis' "Who's Who in American Women"."