TRUEMAN CHRIS: EDGE OF THE WEST : ART IN URBAN SPACES: OFFSITE EXHIBITION at 400 Howard Street

In this public showcase of recently completed paintings,  Chris Trueman creates moments of light and space that collectively record and represent the passage of time. Each layered gradient intermingles with gestures and color, overlaying the previous record and marks. Trueman brings the California tradition of light and space artists - drawing influence from artist James Turrell - by recognizing the unique light of living on the edge of the West Coast and Western world into painting. 

Finding inspiration in urban environments, the California artist specifically reflects on graffiti walls as the arena in which a battle between public and private space takes place. At any given time, the wall surface presents a snapshot of competing interests; an interface between the steward of the property and the individual that is adding their mark upon it. In this analogy Trueman plays both roles, with the canvas acting as a wall upon which various layers of paint are applied and removed. Rather than painting the perceived wall back to blank, he seeks to turn the stroke of paint – the residue of the hand - into light and space. This transformation is never complete. Evidence of the history that came before persists without perceived finality in a state of competing points of view that simultaneously direct the attention off into the distance, only to pull us back the immediate vibrancy of his paintings.

Chris Trueman graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2003, earning dual BFA degrees in Painting and Digital Media. He relocated to southern California to attend Claremont Graduate University, earning a MFA in 2010. Trueman currently teaches at Chaffey College and has previously taught at Chapman University, Fullerton College and Santa Ana College. He has guest lectured at Chapman University, Pomona College and Santa Ana College and was a Northrup Grumman Visiting Artist/Scholar at the Museum of Art and History Lancaster. Trueman has exhibited his work in numerous exhibitions in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Portland and internationally in Milan, Paris, Berlin, Beijing and Brisbane (AUS).