Chris Oatey
Gallery Affiliations: CB1 Gallery
Region: West
Website: http://www.chrisoatey.com/
City / State: Denver, CO
My practice is situated in a space where predetermined structures
invite random forces to assist in their making. Finished works
that serve as documentation of this process are in dialogue with
the mechanically reproduced image. Carbon paper allows me to
slow down the reception of the work whether I use it to create
imagery or sculptural installations.
In my most recent work, snowmelt completes paintings that
develop outdoors over the course of several days. As the snow
that has fallen on the surface melts, it randomly distributes the
layers of pigment. I then reproduce the paintings as drawings,
using a carbon paper transfer process. Due to a shift in my
working methods, the source paintings for these drawings I once
discarded are reclaimed as companion art objects. Each element
in the pairing offers an opposing mode of production—paintings
assisted by occurrences in nature and drawings made through
mechanical labor.