In April, on a rainy morning, Sangria painters and friends were able to tour Chris Trueman’s warehouse studio and talk shop about his work. Artist Deborah Sevett was reminded of the Japanese art of Origami – and I of prismatic reflective road signs in an Apocalypse. After the tour in the studio, we warmed up with a hot lunch and shared some laughs at a local Mexican restaurant where Trueman and his artist friends hang. Chris Trueman is a recent alum of Claremont Graduate University. Ace Gallery artist John Millei was one of his mentors. The artist approaches painting as an innovative collaborator to Op Art of the ’60s and the Abstract Expressionism of the ’50s in a shimmering display of shards and folds.
All images are copyrighted 2012
Where to see Chris Trueman’s Paintings:
STUDIO CITY, CA – The VillaBerta Gallery is pleased to announce a group show of eight Los Angeles painters in “The Pleasure Principle” at a residential gallery space, curated by Charity Burnett. Alex COUWENBERG, Chris TRUEMAN, Clara BERTA, Summer JANELLE, Sharon WEINER, Sharon SUHOVY, Charity BURNETT
Between sensual indulgence and tranquility, these process painters explore associative play and the limits of desire. They express thirst-quenching colors, ‘cravable’ textures, fantasized gratification, soothing ambient moods, and healing or therapeutic transcendence. Works on view in “The Pleasure Principle” have aesthetics of tactility that simulate a physical quality. Creative processes allow for chance or serendipity. As westernized culture puts increasing importance on leisure and recreation, over-stimulation, even addiction – arouses the primitive brain’s pleasure circuitry meant for survival. The resurgence of an intuitive process in painting is a result of artists reacting to their data driven and analytic culture, becoming a phenomenon coinciding with the Digital Age. These artists have come to abstract painting as innovative collaborators to the mid century moderns. Several of these painters create a hybrid of cultural aesthetics from polarized genres while also being true to their times. –Curator’s Statement, by Charity Burnett
Excerpt from press release: CHRIS TRUEMAN’s shimmery paintings of graphite-like tonalities are merged with atmospheric geo-abstractions. They resemble reflective micro-prismatic sheeting or the icy flat surfaces. Like patterns of a healing crystal, the surfaces become a dazzling energy field yet somehow seem apocalyptic. The artist say’s ”These paintings are constructed from various styles and strategies sourced from the language of modernist abstract painting. Rapid shifts in the type of space, illusionistic or through screen-like layers meet flattened abstract planes and the materiality of raw canvas. Moiré and optical patterns keep parts of the underlying gestural painting from being fully grasped, while flesh-like yet unrecognizable swaths lay clearly in plain view.” Trueman attended the San Francisco Art Institute, and earned an MFA from Claremont Graduate University. He teaches painting at Fullerton College. Trueman had works curated by art critic David Pagel for an exhibit at LACE this spring. He is represented by Alexander Salazar Fine Art and has shown at Torrance Art Museum, Bergamot Station, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, San Diego, and Milan. –Charity Burnett, Curator
EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT:
“The Pleasure Principle” exhibition runs Friday, May 18th to Sunday, July 15th 2012.
EVENT CALENDAR
Closing Party: Sunday, July 15, 2012 | 1:00pm to 4:00pm
Hours: by appointment and during opening/closing receptions. Tours scheduled on some weekends.
CONTACT: Curator, Charity Burnett to book tour or inquire about Chris Trueman’s art email sangriafinearts@gmail.com
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