Gallery

 

Artist Statement: I am one amongst a generation of artists after modernism who has given consideration to the ways certain cultural narratives over time become naturalized.  In the wake of modernism’s ossification into a series of predictably scandalous scripts, many artists looked to the “dead” or more traditional media to see what sorts of critical possibilities might be realized. With the depiction of landscape playing such a central role in the history of North American art, it seemed to offer many of the critical possibilities I was looking for, and it felt more and more like something I have always known. But how have I known it? During the last 15 years, I have produced a body of work that tries to raise questions about the representation of nature from a variety of institutional points of view. The series began with an allegorical prairie grass museum that was housed in an abandoned 19th century fire station on the west side of Chicago. Soon after, I produced an illustrated Martian travel guide, an architectural bestiary and an illustrated lunar calendar.  After relocating in Pennsylvania, I continued with a deer-hunting labyrinth (based on the myth of the Minotaur, slayed by Theseus), a cow chapel - collaboratively with Scottish landscape architect Rolf Roscher and, as always, landscape paintings. The paintings portray the kind of suburban, quotidian spaces in drastic states of transformation that increasingly define the character of North America. By employing the ancient craft (and/or technique) of tempera painting, a medium long associated with the depiction of the sacred; these prosaic spaces are rendered as social and historical ruins. By setting these depictions into a form of mythic space, a dialogue is initiated that sheds light on contemporary experience through an engagement with the history of painting. A kind of tension is created through these paradoxes that seek to pose questions about the nature of the sacred, the prosaic, the beautiful.

Resume Education:             MFA, Painting and Drawing, The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, IL                                 BFA, Painting and Drawing, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Awards: 2002                        Arts Council of Ireland Grant Award for the production of Silage, a collaborative artist's book                                 Penn State College of Arts and Architecture Faculty Research Grant, University Park, PA; 2000, 2001, 2002 2001                        Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies Grant, University Park, PA                                 Jim and Connie Houser Award, The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL 2000                        The Tyrone Guthrie Center Award, Annaghmakerrig, Ireland 1999                        Heinrich Boll Foundation Award, Achill Island, Ireland 1997                        The Ballinglen Foundation Award, Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland 1991                        CAAP Grant, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago, IL 1985                        Maria Elkin Memorial Prize, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO Exhibitions: 2003                        Ballinglen Fellows Exhibition, Community Arts Center, Wallingford, PA                                 Zg Gallery "Paul Chidester, Selected Works," Chicago, IL 2002                        Zg Gallery, “12 x 12”, Chicago, IL                                 Spazio Arte, “La Citta' Ideale”, Perugia, Italy                                 Leitrim Design House Gallery, Carrick-on-Shannon, Ireland                                 Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, “CLUSTER, Studio 6,” Dublin, Ireland                                 Conversationspace, Claremorris Open Exhibition, Claremorris, Ireland                                 Ballinglen Foundation Courthouse Gallery, “Colours,” Ballycastle, Ireland                                 Zg Gallery, “An Amuse-Bouche”, Chicago, IL 2001                        Scott Pfaffman Gallery, “Paul Chidester, Recent Works,” New York, NY                                 MPI Media, “take heART,” New York, NY                                 Island Arts Centre, “Visual Leitrim,” Lisburn, Northern Ireland                                 Artists Image Resource, “Photographs by Artists Made for a Variety of Purposes,” Pittsburgh, PA                                 Society of the Four Arts, “63rd Annual Nat’l Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings,” Palm Beach, FL 2000                        Linenhall Arts Center, “On Painting and Fighting, Look Aloof,” Castlebar, County  Mayo, Ireland                                 Gallery Arka,, Lithuania & Gallery 5020, Salzburg, Austria, “2nd International Artist's Book Triennial Vilnius”                                 Palmer Art Museum, “sva2000,” University Park, PA                                 Rosenthal Gallery, “Current Work 2000”, Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, NC                                 Abercrombie Gallery, “Works on Paper,” McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA                                 Baton Rouge Gallery, “Works on Paper,” Baton Rouge, LA                                 Period Gallery, “Contemporary 2000”, Omaha, NE                                 Zoller Gallery, “Trunk Show,” University Park, PA  1999                        Sheetz Gallery, “Paul Chidester, Recent Work, Penn State,” Altoona, PA                                 Rose Lehrman, Arts Center Gallery, “Landscape Paintings: Two Visions,” Harrisburg, PA                                 The Painting Center, “Figuratively Speaking,” New York, NY                                 The Bowman and Penelec Galleries, “8 Hour Drawings,” Allegheny College,  Meadville, PA 1998                        d'Art Center, “8th Annual Mid-Atlantic Art Exhibition”, Norfolk, VA 1997                        Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, “Landscape & Recollection: The Ballinglen Experience,” Dublin, Ireland, 1995                        Hunter College, “Beyond Circumstance,” New York, NY 1994                        Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL                                 N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL                                 Zoller Gallery, Penn State, University Park, PA                                 Erie Art Museum “Elastic Visions,” Erie, PA 1993                        Futura Book Collection, Nice, France. Curated by Florence Bonnefous                                 Owen Patrick Gallery, “Penn State Faculty Exhibition,” Philadelphia, PA                                 Randolph St. Gallery, “Artlantic City,” Chicago, IL                                  John Post Lee Gallery, “Paul Chidester, Irene Hardwicke, Joe Smith, Janet Samuel,” New York, NY                                      Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, “Views of Vegetables,” Chicago, IL  1992                        N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL 1991                        Chicago Cultural Center, “CORN,” Chicago, IL                                 Randy Alexander, New York, NY                                 Centro Colombo Americano de Medellin “An Exchange of Concepts on the American Landscape,” traveling, 1992                                 Camara de Comercio de Cali Camara de Comercio de Bucaramanga, Museum of Modern Art of Cartegna                                 VIAFARINI, “Immagini Proittate,” Milan, Italy                                 Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, “conTEXTual,” Chicago, IL                                 MWMWM Gallery, “Trees”, Chicago, IL                                 N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, IL 1990                        Rezac Gallery, “Thresholds, Tracts and Thinwhinels,” Chicago, IL                                 N.A.M.E. Gallery, “Vital Signs,” Chicago, IL 1989                        Ten in One Gallery, “Direct Object,” Chicago, IL                                 N.A.M.E. Gallery, “Anatomy Theater,” Chicago, IL                                 Northeastern University, “Small Sun drops, Water Horehound, Sneezeweed,” Chicago, IL                                 The Nature Conservancy, A temporary installation 1985                        CORE Gallery, “Young Denver Painters,” Denver, CO                                 CORE Gallery, “Patterns”, Denver, CO Published Works: 2002                        Silage, artist's book with Helen O'Leary, published by Mermaid Turbulence, Annaghmaconway, Cloone, Co. Leitrim, Ireland                                 The Salvation-Dexterity Method for Art Instruction, collaborative artist's book with Charles Cave 2000                        A Primer for the 21st Century, collaborative artist's book with Charles Cave. Exhibited at Printed Matter, NY, NY 1995                        7 Wildflowers of the 17th Century English Landscape, Mudlick Eds., Exhibited at Printed Matter, New York, NY 1991                        Lunar Calendar, Mudlick Editions, Exhibited at Printed Matter, New York, NY                                 MARS, a travel journal. Mudlick Editions. Printed in India. Exhibited at Printed Matter, New York, NY 1990                        WHITEWALLS, A Journal of Artist's Writings, "The Jay Pee Chaff Museum of Prairie Grasses,” #21  Bibliography:                                 ARTFORUM, Laurie Palmer, review, April 1991                                 Centre Daily Times, Joshua Jordan, Feb. 4, 1999; Barbara Bruggebors, Feb. 3, 1999                                 Chicago Tribune, David McCracken, July12, 1991                                 Crain's Chicago Business, Editor's Choice Review, Feb. 11-17, 1991                                 The Daily Break, June 11, 1998                                 The Irish Times, Brian Fallon, November 25, 1997                                 New American Paintings, Open Studio Press, Number 33, May 2001                                 New Art Examiner, Michael Bulka, review, April 1990                                 Pittsburgh Post Gazette Magazine, Ellen Wilson, Oct. 1, 2001; Mary Thomas, Feb. 6, 1999                                 The Virginian Pilot, Theresa Annas, 1998                                 WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio, Victoria Lautman, review, 1989