Colin Chase
Cleave #4, 2012.
About:
Colin Chase is a sculptor based in New York City who works primarily with wood. Geometric abstraction underlies the artist’s compositions that incorporate a small number of found objects to serve as details that connect details of a larger narrative. Most recently Chase has focused on flatness seen typically in painting, but with a sculptor’s vocabulary. In his current series large, square wood forms feature an exchange between high and low relief, touched lightly with one of the three primary colors that are either woven deftly throughout the structure’s surface or set upon the fringes that appear throughout the picture plane.
unsquare dance #4, 2014.
unsquare dance #4 (2014) measures 32” x 34”, roughly square, while each row of wood alternates black polychromed, repurposed OSB with light surfaces of birch. The slightly raised surface that appears to shift and terrace only becomes apparent when a soft hue of blue emerges periodically throughout. Chase’s dialogue between painting and sculpture also appears in Talking stick: mantra # 7 (2014) that comprises vertical strips of white-painted, repurposed wood overlain with smaller-cut horizontal fragments. The ends of each small component show a color – reds or blues – that is seen primarily from the side, functioning only as a shadow otherwise. Talking stick: mantra #10 (2014) is a crescendo of birch and pine presented in vertical and horizontal relief that are both evenly juxtaposed from the center of the picture plane. Unlike the previous piece, which is larger, this one measures 24”-square with a depth of 1-inch. It also lacks any paint or color, challenging the process of vision and judgement while leaving the wood exposed for a natural time-based patina. Talking stick: mantra # 8 (2014) also shows exposed, bare fibers but with a different pattern, showing less warp and more weft.
Over the past three years Colin Chase exhibited widely throughout New York City. However his work has been seen frequently around the country in cities such as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Gambier, Ohio; Bennington, Vermont; and Arcadia, California. In 2011 Chase participated in Loosely Coupled, a group show that took place on Governors Island, New York with sponsorship by the West Harlem Art Fund and in 2013 Governors Island included his sculpture in Rising Tide, curated by Sarah Schmerler.(Courtesy June Kelly Gallery New York)