BIOGRAPHY
James Chronister (b. 1978) earned his BFA (High Honors) as a University Scholar (Davidson Honors College) from the University of Montana, Missoula in 2001 and his MFA (with Distinction) from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco in 2004. Chronister was awarded the Fox and Miles Scholarships while at the University of Montana and the Richard K. Price Scholarship while at the California College of the Arts. In 2013, Chronister was awarded the Artist-In-Residence at the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas, California, which was accompanied by a survey of his work from the years 2009-2013. Chronister was nominated for the SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2010 and 2018. In 2020 Chronister was a recipient of the Bay Area Visual Artist Production Relief Grant from Evergold Projects, San Francisco. Chronister has been a visiting artist at the California College of the Arts, the Lux Art Institute and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Public collections of Chronister’s work include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Stanford Hospital, San Francisco International Airport, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, San Francisco General Hospital, Nion McEvoy Family Collection, Paul Wattis III Family Collection and the Howard Tullman Family Collection.
The artist lives and works in Missoula, Montana.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am interested in the feeling of listening to a walkman in the woods behind my parents’ home, looking at the mountains through my bedroom window at night as a child, playing my father’s vinyl records and burning incense, driving in the middle of a Montana winter, riding a train through rural villages and countryside during a German summer, playing Dungeons and Dragons, reading Lord of the Rings, and watching Zeppelin’s The Song Remains the Same.
Within painting, I find a different, imagined and bruised reality.
CV
b. 1978. Helena, Montana. USA
Lives in Missoula, Montana. USA
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Only Sunrises, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Selections of New Work, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 Glass Summers, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francsico, CA
2016 Sup Paintings, %100 Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015 Better Bowls, More Crackers, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 Bitterroot, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013 James Chronister: Paintings 2007-2013, Lux Art Institute (ICA San Diego), Encinitas, CA
2011 Now We Lustre, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Ceremony, Burnet Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2009 All We Ever Wanted Was Anything, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Listen Like Thieves, Bloom Studios, Oakland, CA
Group/Two-Person Exhibitions
2022 NADA, Eli Ridgway Gallery, New York, NY
Viewing Room, Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, ID/Los Angeles, CA
2021 REWILDING, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
The Art of Trees, Gund Gallery at Kenyon College, Gambier, OH Gallery Artists, Eli Ridgway Gallery, Bozeman, MT
2020 Bozeman Inaugural Exhibition, Eli Ridgway Gallery, Bozeman, MT Rooted: Trees in Contemporary Art, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA Spaces, Burnet Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
Invincible Summer, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
Bay Are Visual Artist Production Relief Grant Exhibition, Evergold
Projects, San Francisco, CA
2019 O! ‘darkly,deeply, beautifully blue,’ As some one somewhere sings...,
Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
OK, Wow. GREAT, 1240 Minnesota Street, San Francisco, CA, curated by Brion Nuda Rosch
2018 Arts & Nature Social Club, CIRCLE CULTURE, Berlin, Germany, curated by Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer
Ascent, U.S. Bank, San Francisco, CA, curated by Elizabeth Leach
2017 James Chronister and Megan Reed, Interim via Et al, Oakland, CA,
curated by Aaron Harbour
2016 We’re Together, Good Mother Gallery, Oakland, CA, curated by Grant
Gutierrez
I Never Learned the Title of the Song I Always Sing, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA, curated by Brion Nuda Rosch
ArtMRKT, San Francisco, CA
2015 An Arbitrary Group of Paintings, Et Al, San Francisco, CA, curated by Facundo Arganaraz
West Coast Craft Fair, San Francisco, CA
2014 Bay Area Now 7, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Miami Project, Miami, FL 2013 ArtMRKT, San Francisco, CA 2012 Scope, New York, NY
Aqua, Miami, FL
ArtPad, San Francisco, CA
2011 Chromaticism, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA, curated by Liz Wing
ArtMRKT, San Francisco, CA
Aqua, Miami, FL
2010 Dissonance, POVevolving Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Alexis
Anne McKenzie
Space: Series 1, Truesilver Union Gallery, San Francisco, CA
It’s Only Rock and Roll But I Like It, Truesilver Union Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Chimera: Fabrications of the Mind, Gensler, San Francisco, CA, curated by Mathew Boyko
San Francisco Fine Arts Fair, San Francisco, CA
Scope, New York, NY
2009 Aqua, Miami, FL
2006 Paintings From Pluto, Gallery of Urban Art, Emeryville, CA (w/Jake
Longstreth)
Trucker Hats Vs. Sideways Haircuts, On Six Gallery, San Francisco, CA, curated by Leslie Shows
Celebrity, Café Royal, San Francisco, CA, curated by Mathew Hughes Boyko
Snap, Crackle, Pop, PlaySpace Gallery, CCA, San Francisco, CA, curated by Sarrita Hunn
2004 MFA Thesis Exhibition, CCA, San Francisco, CA. curated by Mathew Higgs
50 Below, PlaySpace Gallery, CCA, San Francisco, CA
Green Couch Soirée, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA 2003 99 Bottles, Build Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Spaces to Fall Into, Slingshot Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Collectively, CCA, San Francisco, CA
2002 Slingshot, Alpha Galleries, CCA, San Francisco, CA
Feedback, Alpha Galleries, CCA, San Francisco, CA
ANA 31, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT, Juried by Gerald Peters Montana Artists, Melanie Alvarez Gallery, Missoula, MT
2001 B.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Gallery of Visual Arts, Missoula, MT
ANA 30, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT, Juried by Peter Schjeldahl Amnesty International Human Rights Cultural Exhibition, University Center, Missoula, MT
Education
2004 MFA
2001 BFA 2001 1999
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA (With Distinction)
University of Montana , Missoula, MT (High Honors) University Scholar, Davidson Honors College, Missoula, MT University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
Grants/Awards/Residencies
2020 Bay Area Visual Artist Production Relief Grant, Evergold Projects, San Francisco, CA
2018 SECA nomination, SFMOMA, SF, CA
2013 Artist in Residence, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA 2010 SECA nomination, SFMOMA, SF, CA
2004 Richard K. Price Scholarship (painting), CCA, SF, CA
MFA with Distinction, CCA, SF, CA
2003 CCA Painting Scholarship, CCA, SF, CA 2001 BFA with High Honors, U of M, Missoula, MT
University Scholar, Davidson Honors College, U of M, Missoula, MT
Fox Scholarship, U of M, Missoula, MT 2000 Miles Scholarship, U of M, Missoula, MT
Lectures
2022 Artist Lecture, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 2015 Visiting Artist, San Francisco Art Institute, SF, CA 2013 Artist Lecture, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA
2012 Visiting Artist, California College of the Arts, SF, CA 2011 Visiting Artist, California College of the Arts, SF, CA
Public Collections
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, SF, CA Stanford Hospital, Redwood City, CA
Morgan Stanley Art Collection, New York, NY
Berkenstadt Family Collection, Miami, FL
McEvoy Family Collection, San Francisco and Petaluma, CA Tullman Family Collection, Chicago, CA
Wattis Family Collection, San Francisco, CA