Revenant

New Paintings by Gregg Chadwick

"Specters from a distant past ‐‐ or perhaps another level of existence ‐‐ people the nostalgic and visionary works of Gregg Chadwick. Widely recognized for his figure paintings and cityscapes, Gregg Chadwick presents his latest work in an exhibition titled Revenant, at San Francisco's Sandra Lee Gallery.” - Jeffrey Carlson

In folk mythology, a revenant is a being or force that returns from another level of existence to haunt the living. The paintings in my new series, Revenant, carry the ghosts of their former selves. Each work goes through an open-ended series of painting sessions. Surfaces are scraped down, over painted, and layered with transparent pigments.  Opaque swaths of color are brushed into the wet surface, leaving remnants of past figures and locations, while memories and future visions surge to the surface and overwrite the image.

Current science is discovering that our earliest memories of childhood may be pushed out or overwritten like computer code by the growth of neurons during our early years, which could help explain the mysterious memory lapses, what Freud called “infantile amnesia”, in our childhood memories. Often, for me, bits of these ghostly, fragmented memories pop up with the hint of a remembered song, color, or aroma. I relish these revenant moments and use them as access points into my current paintings. Ghost trains roll down long abandoned tracks. Lost buildings reappear. Shadows of former selves are reflected in this mirrored world. The crackle of distant radio transmissions seems to blend with the staccato of binary code. Apparitions of friends, family, fellow artists, and passersby find their way, sometimes unbidden but welcomed, into the works. For me, these revenant figures and places bring possibility to life and lend an eerie comfort to our fleeting world. - Gregg Chadwick, Santa Monica, June 2014

Opening Reception: July 10, 2014

5:30 - 7:30 PM

Sandra Lee Gallery

251 Post Street, Suite 310

San Francisco, CA 94108

Read Jeffrey Carlson's piece for Fine Art Connoisseur here.Catalog Available