The "Carnival of Fun" presents a visual correlation to oral history and explores an ongoing, inter-generational saga of the artist's family. Each element of the complex, layered composition relates to a family affected by a genetic medical condition. The "small stories" show how various family members deal with this information. Using a framework of "small stories," the work in the "Carnival of Fun" incorporates issues of personal identity to form a complex web of visual connections. The narratives act as armature, enabling seemingly disparate images to create visual metaphors as a counterpart to story telling rather than illustrations of particular stories. Familiar images such as cakes, amusement rides, mirrors, toys and balloons suggest celebration. Thrill and anticipation are woven into the image using biological imagery which leads to memories and ideas about genealogy and heredity.

In this way, relationships between art and medical science, technology and pop culture are explored visually and their relevance to a familial history is examined. Slides of actual affected cells represent the biological disorder, their color artificially enhanced for better scientific identification. Both concrete and mysterious, these cells provide a beautiful background for the family interaction played out by toys from my childhood. Also included are appropriated line drawings of Italian or Renaissance architectural fragments, another reference to my family heritage. Weaving together of factual and fictive elements parallels the approaches portrayed by the protagonists (toys) as they deal with situations that do not always make sense. The carnival is the perfect location for my familial interactions. Carnivals are mechanisms of escape with many of the attractions meant to disorient you. That secondary feeling, not necessarily a negative one, is one which I hope viewers experience as they go beyond the brightly colored surfaces to see that the works are not so simple. Grouping the works together enhances the highly-charged atmosphere of the carnival and presents a cumulative portrait of the my family as they, individually and collectively, publicly and privately, react to the realm of medical problems within the extended group.

Sergio Soave Studied printmaking at the University of Windsor, Ontario where he received a BFA . He received his MFA in Printmaking and Drawing from West Virginia University. After graduating, Soave went on to teach printmaking at WVU and is currently the chairperson of the Division of Art. The artist has received a variety of awards and honors including: the West Virginia Arts and Crafts Fellowship, an Artist Residency at the Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, Belgium and the Canadian Council's Exploration Grant.

Soave's work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibits including: Carnival of Fun, the University of Delaware; Colorprint USA, Mesaros Galleries, Morgantown, WV; and The 1995 Los Angeles Print Society International, Leband Art Gallery, Los Angeles. The artist has lectured at national and international universities including: the Nanjing College of Fine Art, Nanjing, China and The Beijing Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China. Soave's work is included in numerous public and private collections including: the Butler Museum of Art, Southern Graphics Council Archives, Centrum Frans Masereel and The Royal Museum of Antwerpen.