Occidental Center for the Arts Gallery presents the work of Sonoma County Artist Chris Cheek.

TRANSIENT PAINTINGS

SIGHT POEMS & OTHER WORKS

BY CHRIS CHEEK

“Derelict” mixed media on panel 44” x 104”

Years ago I was in Erongaricuaro Mexico, on a warm humid night, where colors have spiritual meaning passed down from the Aztecs, where plows are carved from tree branches in the field with machetes, where moths the size of birds fly after dark. I was listening to my professor, Ron Dahl read Garcia Lorca’s essay on the duende, and the duende spoke to me.

Garcia Lorca used the folkloric images of the angel, the muse, and the duende to explain the forces that compel the artist to create great work. The closest translation that I can come up with to the spirit of duende is an undefinable sense of “soul”.

Now, I still chase the duende as I work. It hides in common objects and dark corners, where it is easily dismissed as people go about their lives. I feed it metaphores and memories, and sometimes it chases me.

Very early on, I used unrelated images to create metaphore and symbolism. Later I began to add word imagery as I worked. I called these works “ sight poems”, in reference to the unexpected “twists” and surprises in sight gag cartoons.

The five “Transient Paintings” in the show are the most recent version of this. Initially, seemingly ordinary images, of rusting machinery are exposed by the ravings of the Transient, a madman and self-ordained prophet, to represent dismissal of truth, the distruction of our society. and the end of life as we know it. Further on, we follow stragglers, through nearly empty landscape, to a final ghost dance and an uncertain end in the final painting.

More so than other pieces in the show, these paintings insist upon the patient involvement of the viewer, as the full meaning of the tale is told in stamped copper, and references are carried back and forth from one painting to another.

You will find the rest of the gallery full of more “sight poems,’ pictures that tell stories and a tall tale or two from “Studio Large “S”. Enjoy the show!!

CHRIS CHEEK

“Artifact” acrylic on panel 38” by 62”

“Acolyte” mixed media on panel 44” x 50”

“Wildfire” acrylic on panel 32” x 48”