The subjects of James Chronister's paintings аre not the landscapes he pictures or the '60s-era rock stars he depicts on canvas. Instead, the subject is his internal attempt to find " non-verbal and obviously visual place that sits somewhere between the experienced and imagined."
Chronister's work is based on found pictures, thus removing him from the scene or person in each painting. In fact, the work is not about the subiects at all. It is rather pictures of pictures, usualy taken from vintage books.
"Behind the surface of the paintings and what they overtly depict, I try to imbue a sense of the past," says Chronister. "I'm not interested in a particular rock star or patch of forest, but rather what they might connote. I try to combine source imagery with my process of painting in order to point to the past."
Chronister furthers this detachment from the subjects–and from the painting genres as well–by basing each work on printsdone with Ben-Day dots.
"This is a process by which thousands of tiny black dots, from a distance, describe a three- dimensional space," describes Chronister. "Think of the way a newspaper prints black-and-white images. This approach is a way to clean up the process, because when I make the painting I know that in any particular area of the painting is either black (the litle dots) or white (the background color). This is akin to digital information--it is either on or off."
The distance that Chronister talks about isn't just a literal one as it has more metaphorical connotations as well. It also is how Chronister connects his love of music with his art.
"Sonic Youth was one of the first bands I became interested in that kept a sort of distance from the audience," says Chronister. "It took a little work to find something beautiful in the sound. I like to keep the work at a bit of a distance. This is just what appeals to my subconsciousinterests. I've never liked paintings that looked like paintings.
The Gallery Says...
"James creates absolutely beautiful pieces, created in a meticulous process-driven approach. He makes work by the rules he sets for himself and those rules require hours and hours of labor and painstaking work, the outcome of which is both extraordinary aesthetically and intellectually engaging."
- Eleanor Harwood, Owner, Eleanor Harwood Gallery
