chel

chel (b. 1989, Halfmoon, New York) is an artist living and working in Portland, Maine. Fueled by the desire to connect with and convey an ever-shifting sense of self, their practice leans into impermanence and results in deeply layered pieces. Through meditatively allowing all intuitively felt colors, marks, and shapes to be made, even if at first these are dissonant, and then responding and editing, they seek to find resolution visually and within a feeling. They use paint and other mediums to create tenuously balanced compositions that are fully activated, each piece a filter through which loneliness, grief, and the anxious dream of living pass.

chel’s work was featured in ‘Threads,’ on view July 13-28, 2024.

“For chel, making these bags serves multiple purposes – for one, it is an opportunity to make work that is more affordable and accessible to more people. Making them also provides diversion relief from what can otherwise be an emotionally demanding studio practice of making paintings. The relatively straightforward process of the bag assemblage provides formulaic structure to a day of work, while still engaging the bodymind in a creative task. The fact that each of the paintings for these bags will ultimately be cut up, folded, changed, relieves the pressure of creating a fully resolved more conventional wall hanging type piece of art. Often utilizing a more limited color palette than their other work, these bags are a place for casual play and experiments with color. What we choose to wear to represent ourselves is such a personal choice, and the opportunity to make art that can accent a persons style or be integrated into their day to day life is a delight.”