Todd Chilton: Stairs and Ramps11 January - 16 February 2014    > past   > artist page

Todd Chilton’s relatively small and intensely colored abstract paintings layer patterns that are bounded by the edge of the canvas, leading you to believe these paintings are easily graspable. The exhibition title, Stairs and Ramps, references the flat and manipulated space of computer games and, as well, ways to move by foot or wheelchair through architectural space. At the same time, it is also just two ways to graphically read a triangle, the shape that is the basis of the patterns in most of these paintings. Titles of the paintings point to alternate readings of what may be initially perceived. Geometry is undermined by handedness.

As the artist has noted, all these things “serve to create a situation in which the viewer becomes aware of the experience of looking. I want to create images that convey at once a sense of ambiguity, purposefulness, and humor. At times they have a sense of openness on one hand and resistance on the other. I am interested in what happens in the middle. Meaning comes through determined imprecision, broken or sagging structures, and the obvious hand that created the painting. This underscores the physical experience that takes place between a viewer and my work through surface, scale, and optical qualities, which subvert, or sustain, a sense of balance.”

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space space Pastel Combs, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”; $ 3,500 space Primary Argyle, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”; $ 3,500. sold space

Side by Side, Orange and Blue, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”; $ 3,500. sold

space Slotted Ramps 2, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”;
$ 3,500. sold
space Spikes, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”; $ 3,500. sold space Slotted Triangles 2, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”;
$ 3,500. sold
space Four Combs Stacked, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”;
$ 3,500. sold
space Ramp Down, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 18 x 16”; $ 3,500 space Primary Stacked Spirals, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel;
27 x 23”; $ 4,500.
space Circle Stairs, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 30 x 27”; $ 5,000 space X Stairs, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 30 x 26”; $ 5,000. space Double Circle Stairs, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 37 x 33”; $ 6,000. space Spinning Ramps, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 27 x 23”; $ 4,500. space Steep White Ramps, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 30 x 27”; $ 5,000. space Pale Triangles, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 27 x 23”; $ 4,500.. space Wave Spiral Stairs, 2013; oil paint on linen over panel; 27 x 23”;
$ 4,500.
space
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