A solo show featuring Jane Chafin
July 23 – August 27, 2023
Installation view
Quarantine Series #1
From top, left to right Quarantine Series #1 (4) 31" x 32" Quarantine Series #1 (7) 32" x 31" Quarantine Series #1 (2) 31" x 32" Quarantine Series #1 (8) 30" x 29" Acrylic on unstretched canvas
Quarantine Series #1 in its original configuration.
Calm
Acrylic on unstretched canvas 78" x 78"
Installation view
Quarantine Series #1
Quarantine Series #2
Foursquare (4)
From left
All works acrylic on unstretched canvas
Quarantine Series #1 (5)
30" x 29"
Quarantine Series #2 (6)
30" x 29"
Foursquare (4)
48" x 47"
# 4 of set of 4
Foursquare (1)
Acrylic on unstretched canvas 46" x 48" #1 of set of 4
Foursquare
Acrylic on unstretched canvas approximately 48" x 48" each
Foursquare (2)
Acrylic on unstretched canvas 48" x 47" #2 of set of 4
Installation view
Quarantine Series #2
From top, left to right Quarantine Series #2 (2) 31" x 32" Quarantine Series #2 (4) 31" x 32" Quarantine Series #2 (5) 31" x 32" Quarantine Series #2 (8) 32" x 31" Quarantine Series #2 (9) 32" x 31" All works acrylic on unstretched canvas
Quarantine Series #2 in its original configuration
Foursquare (4)
Quarantine Series #1
From left, top to bottom
All works acrylic on unstretched canvas
Foursquare (4)
48" x 47"
#4 of set of 4
Quarantine Series #1 (6)
32" x 31"
Quarantine Series #1 (9)
32" x 31"
Quarantine Series #2
Acrylic on unstretched canvas 32" x 31"
Artist’s Statement – Jane Chafin
Buffer Zone at Roswell Space July 23 - August, 20 2023 I strongly believe in the VISUAL in visual art. When I started painting again after a 20-year hiatus, I wrote a brief manifesto and tacked it to my studio wall. The work must be: • colorful, joyous and buzzing with life • free of art school/art world bullshit • fun for me to do Although my work has progressed in the ensuing five years, the directive hasn’t changed. The paintings in Buffer Zone were created in isolation during the pandemic, through a period of extreme political tension, natural disasters, and in a DTLA neighborhood that is Skid-Row-adjacent. Working on them created a protective buffer zone between me and the chaotic world around me. Initially fueled by the organic shapes and vivid colors of Henri Matisse’s cut-outs and Yayoi Kusama’s paintings, I set out to find a language of my own. Often working from an initial Photoshop sketch, I search the internet and books for images of exotic flora and fauna, both macroscopic and microscopic (leaves, coral, diatoms, viruses, etc.). I skew, warp and distort them in Photoshop until I see something I like. I then draw the resulting shapes with chalk on canvas and work with them in chalk until I’m ready to apply paint. I use saturated color, flat shapes, rectilinear backgrounds and borders; embellished with dots, marks, stripes and flowers to build my composition. I often photograph the work in progress on my iPhone and load it back into Photoshop to work out problems and new ideas. The paintings are acrylic on unstretched canvas. They hang loosely by pushpins and suggest banners, flags, quilts or tapestries. Jane Chafin June 6, 2023