BE THEREHere and TherePresented by Massimo Audiello March 11, 2006- April 29, 2006ChanSchatz
The starting point for the paintings on view in Here and There is provided by these two groups of invited guests who chose from a sampling of colors, texts, and signature visual forms ChanSchatz culled from their vast drawing archive. The artists directed the choices of each individual into a pictorial space. It is this social framework and the produced abstracted identity of a contemporary portrait that interests ChanSchatz in their paintings. Deliberately choosing to screen print these compositions onto silk, the finished works achieve an intensity of color and material richness that expands the diverse range of ChanSchatz's production. The artists' mastery of this medium underscores the broad cultural and economic history that silk has sustained through earlier time periods and up to the present. Igor Zabel once remarked, "Design is the development of models that can be used in mass production." While ChanSchatz indeed reference contemporary design, their paintings suggest these models can be co-opted to achieve a very different end. By cleverly combining references to modernist painting with the dialogue of the individuals, organizations, and communities they engage, ChanSchatz ultimately upend the practice of painting. ChanSchatz received their MFAs from Columbia University. Recent exhibitions include, Extreme Abstraction, The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Multiple Strategies, Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati, OH; ChanSchatz, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, NY; and One In A Million, Austrian Cultural Forum, New York, NY. In 2007, ChanSchatz will be the Falk Visiting Artists at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC; and they are currently preparing for a solo exhibition at the Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN. ChanSchatz live and work in New York City. --- Eric Chan and Heather Schatz wish to thank the guests of PTG. 31 M-P, PTG. 32 APUS, and PTG. 34 M-P whose contributions made these artworks possible. The artists would also like to acknowledge the Freedom Calls Foundation, Operation Uplink, and Fort Hamilton, NY whose coordinating efforts also made these projects possible.
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