Autobody Gallery and Studios - CURRENT EXHIBITION





ART EXHIBITION  |  CONSULTING  |  EVENT SPACE

CURRENT EXHIBIT

STEVEN CHABRE  

February 4 - March 18, 2017 

 

presenting recent oil paintings, works on paper 
and stop-motion animation  





Opening Reception: 
SATURDAY, February 4th, 2017 from 6-9pm

Artist Talk:
FRIDAY, February 24th, 2017 from 7-9pm

Closing Reception:
SATURDAY, March 18th, 2017 from 6-9pm

artist link: www.chabreart.com



Steven Chabre charts the waters of his unconscious mind on a daily basis by producing what he refers to as “automatic drawings”. These exquisite works on paper are a response to the internal stimuli of thoughts, emotions and feelings that bubble up within all of us as our subconscious processes the primary relationships we forge amongst ourselves. Chabre’s work is deeply personal but the images flirt with the universal so even the most casual of viewers will find a commonality with the visual language he is using. 

These drawings fill sketchbooks, some of which are displayed during the exhibition, and select pieces inform paintings that borrow from and expand on the original information. Pencil lines get blurred by brushstroke and paint is used to add color and texture, the language of sensuality, to a vocabulary already loaded with desire. Chabre’s use of paint is masterful, matching thick regions of paint with thin washes that envelop and describe his characters and the environment they re-enact their relationships in. The narrative is never fully revealed leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps. 

Alongside the drawings and the paintings in the exhibition Chabre has chosen to premiere a short animated work that brings together the dreamscape of his drawings and the textural and tonal quality of the paintings. Floating through the animation, the central character leads and informs the viewer in a surrealistic journey that blends the abstract with the concrete in a way that is lyrical and beautiful. 

(introduction by Jacqueline Cooper)


   
Tide Pool
stop-motion animation film by Steven Chabre 
(click on image to watch)





"I grew up near the shore in Southern California. 
There was a beach nearby with tide pools that I 
visited regularly. I sat or stood next to them and 
watched. There were creatures hiding under the 
rocks and plants that would not come out unless 
I was still and waited. The surface of the water 
fascinated me too. I knew that things happened 
in the pools when it was dark or nobody was looking..."



 
drawing, pen on paper