Chris Trueman: Certain Intangibility
Announcing the newest paintings by Chris Trueman in an exhibition entitled Certain Intangibility. The suite of five paintings on view represents a culmination of Trueman’s development of a distinct approach to abstract painting that has advanced over the past fifteen years in his studio practice. Recognized for their bold visual texture and gesture, Trueman’s paintings dematerialize upon closer viewing with their flat surfaces that suggest the reverse illumination of electronic screens. This mercurial combination speaks to agenda of the artist to remake abstraction reevaluating its historical focus on the physical presence of material on painting’s surface with the realities of our daily engagement with digital tools and devices which have fundamentally altered our relationships with images, visual perception, and the role of the artist in production of objects and culture.
Mindful of the histories of Abstraction in the 20th century, especially in relationship to the mark making practices and enduring reverence for the canvas as a repository for the material and physical interventions of the artist’s time and artistic processes, Trueman approaches his work recognizing that the conditions of art and humankind’s existence have shifted enormously over the past two decades. A fundamental motivation for Trueman is his understanding that we are accustoming ourselves to the fragmented split between living virtually and in our physical reality. At the heart of his practice is, in Trueman’s questions, “What is the potential of Abstraction today? How can a painting embody multiple states at once? How can my work be both experientially present and physically absent?”
Utilizing common materials and tools in distinct new ways, Trueman works in an additive and reductive process developing audacious marks and gestures and has innovated ways to buff and remove portions of these creating visual striking fields of colors with gradient-like qualities. The resulting paintings radiantly hover with their atmosphere like feeling and defy the viewer’s attempts to discern the hand of the artist and its exact pentimento. Dynamically fluctuating and indecipherable they evoke the complex visual illusions we confront daily and are likely to encounter more frequently with the advancement of Artificial Intelligence generated imagery.
Certain Intangibility represents the artist’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery, sets the stage as a means for experiencing the artist’s continued development and contribution to contemporary abstraction in California. The exhibition will be presented in parallel with Jennifer Bannert: Elements and will run from May 27 through June 24, 2023 and be open to the public each week Thursday through Saturday, 11 AM to 5 PM and on other days and times by appointment. The exhibition is presented by Edward Cella Gallery at the Himalaya Club located at 1109 N. La Brea Ave, Inglewood, California 90302. The Vernissage will take place on Saturday, May 27 from Noon to 6 pm will feature a reception for both of the artists and feature a two independent artist talks beginning at 3 PM.
