Artist’s Statement

Chaz John’s current body of work “Manifest Destiny’s Child” presents a vibrant collection of images, both real and imagined, that comprise a poetic narrative of cultural iconography, raw dream images, and a personal quilt of archetypal patterns that make up the collective American psyche.

The work continually pivots around the “Modern Myth of the American Frontier”. Picking at its shallow timeline, Chaz’s work coalesces these moments into an insightful atmosphere that parallels this narrative with intimate elements of self reflection, infusing it into a compelling transmuted action.

Throughout the body of work Chaz draws from historical references such as western alchemy, indigenous storytelling and family history. This is coupled with an introspective visual language of tattoo flash art, slap stick comedy and addiction, proposing a deeply personal contemporary translation of Indigenous and American iconography.

The work embraces the tension between opposites; blurring the line of representation and abstraction, figure and shadow, and revealing something familiar and vague at the same time.

“I want the paintings and sculptures to look like they’re trying to remember a dream; falling apart and coming together; That’s really it”.

Although like a dream the relationship between the subjects and narrative isn’t always apparent, the work evokes complex emotional depth, humor and an aura of mystery that invites the viewer to embrace a collection of humanity’s archetypal narratives that continue to live us.