Open Studios
Open Studios Sat Feb 22, 12-4pm 720 E 18th St, Los Angeles CA 90021
The Surfer's Journal short film "Breaking Everything with Fritz Chesnut"
The Surfer’s Journal released this interview video with Alex Weinstein on my work in conjunction with the article on me in the latest issue.
Surfer's Journal article issue 33.2, April/May 2024
Excellent article in the new Surfer’s Journal written by Alex Weinstein on my work titled “Impact Zone, Breaking Everything with Fritz Chesnut.”
CULT TURNS 10 - 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
CULT TURNS 10
10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION
January 18 - April 13, 2024
SQUEAK CARNWATH
TAU LEWIS
KIJA LUCAS
CHRIS DUNCAN
SHAGHA ARIANNIA
ADRIAN BURRELL
SARAH PALMER
GEORGE MCCALMAN
MARY FERNANDO CONRAD
DAVID WILSON
REBEKAH GOLDSTEIN
RHONDA HOLBERTON
AMY NATHAN
MIA WEINER
DREW BENNETT
RUXUE ZHANG
MASAKO MIKI
KLARA KALLSTROM & THOBIAS FALDT
RACHEL BRIDGES
IVAN BRIDGES
JESSICA NIELLO WHITE
NICKI GREEN
SOPHRONIA COOK
FRITZ CHESNUT
ANTHONY PEYTON YOUNG
MIYA ANDO
RACHEL KAYE
JAY NELSON
CURTIS TALWST SANTIAGO
NICOLE NADEAU
ANDREW OWEN
BINTA AYOFEMI
SUZY POLING
CHRIS FALLON
ZHIVAGO DUNCAN
JAMIL HELLU
DEAN SMITH
LENA WOLFF
CULT TURNS 10 is a love letter to all the artists who have shared their work with us, and to the collectors, curators and public who have supported us in a myriad of ways over the last ten years. The exhibition is in two parts, the first opens in San Francisco (1401 16th Street) on January 18 and runs through March 2, with an artist reception and anniversary party on Friday, January 19. The second iteration will open in Oakland (482 49th Street) on February 23.
CULT Aimee Friberg
1401 16th Street (at Carolina)
San Francisco CA 94103
Above the Sea and Below the Sky, A group show featuring works by Merrick Adams, Carolyn Case, Fritz Chesnut, and Emma Corrall
January 13 - February 12, 2024
Opening: Saturday, January 13th, 5-8 pm
New gallery hours: Thu 11-5 pm, Fri 11-5 pm, Sat 12-5 pm & by appointment
Fritz Chesnut, Gold Moiré 2, 2023, acrylic on canvas over panel, 40” x 30”
ABOVE THE SEA AND BELOW THE SKY, a group show from La Loma Projects co-curated by Anastasija Jevtovic, pools works by Merrick Adams, Carolyn Case, Fritz Chesnut, and Emma Corrall. Motion—be it current, drift, eddy, leap, or surge—flows from each work to the next. These paintings, radiant in movement and glinting in surface, ferry the viewer from the familiar toward the invisible, toward a realm where the known presses against the unknown. –Tara Anne Dalbow
For inquiries, contact kirk@lalomaprojects.com or anastasija@lalomaprojects.com
Join us for the opening* Saturday, January 13th, 5-8 pm
6516 North Figueroa, Unit A, Los Angeles, CA 90042
*Rideshare encouraged
A Crossroads Show opening Saturday Sept 9th, 6-9pm at the art room
Show runs through Sept 27th, 2023
theartroomdtla.com
SWELL at Manhattan Beach Art Center
SWELL
Exhibition Schedule: April 21, 2023 to July 2, 2023
Opening Reception: April 21, 2023 from 5pm-7pm
Lisa Bartleson
Susanne Melanie Berry
Casper Brindle
Dino Capaldi
Fritz Chesnut
Ned Evans
Julie Goldstein
Chip Herwegh
Dennis Jarvis
Eric Johnson
Beth Lee
David Lloyd
Shana Mabari
Zack Missioreck
Ben Soto
C.R. Stecyk III
Alex Weinstein
Katherine Young
The Manhattan Beach Art Center (MBAC) is pleased to announce SWELL. In this dual exhibition, Manhattan Beach Art Center (MBAC) and Gallery 208, join forces to present artwork taking inspiration from surfing and surf culture. SWELL features work from 18 artists who begin their creative journey at the ocean and dive deep into exploration of materials, techniques, messages, and inspiration. While SWELL focuses on less obvious surfing inspiration, such as the materiality of resin or the dichotomy between male and female surfers, Hot Batch at Gallery 208, presents a more straight forward point of view.
In his forward to SWELL, participating artist Alex Weinstein writes:
“It is hard to overstate the impact of the Pacific Ocean on the culture of California. Surfers know the feeling best: immersion into overwhelming, tempestuous grandeur. For artists in their studios; the act is similar. Bringing an artwork to completion is no less an encounter; often its fruition is inevitably the account of a struggle between maker and medium for something greater, ineffable, sublime.
Since the 1960’s, surfing has brought millions of people into the ocean; thanks in large part to an industry born here in the South Bay. In emotional terms, what happens in the sea is at once deeply personal and often, curiously universal.
The artists in this exhibition all share a lineage with the broader matrix of estuaries born of the Pacific. In the hands of several, fiberglass, urethane foam, and polyester resin – the very DNA of surfing – is deconstructed and recast. Within this broader context, some are working in a renewed investigation of Light and Space – a decade’s old response to the dour austerity of New York-based Minimalism. Here and now, sleek manufacturing and sunset-tones yield a type of chemical optimism that is distinctly Californian. Others have brought the causal materiality of the sea itself: its primeval erosive/generative forces into their output. There are works here of great gestural mass owing to the heroic sweep and indomitable attitude of the ocean. For other artists in this exhibition, their narratives present more conceptually, perhaps even quietly, sharing larger interior discoveries made among the waves.”
SWELL opens on April 21st at 5pm with a reception from 5pm to 7pm at the Manhattan Beach Art Center (1560 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Manhattan Beach). Hot Batch, opening on the same evening, will hold its reception from 7pm to 10pm at Gallery 208 (208 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Manhattan Beach).
New paintings at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Feb 15 - 19, 2023
Booth 36 | Bryan de Roo LA 2023
Gina Borg
Fritz Chesnut
Bryan De Roo
Amy Dov
Josh Dov
Michael Holden
SPRING/BREAK Art Show
FEBRUARY 15 - 19, 2023
SKYLIGHT CULVER CITY
5880 Adams Blvd
Culver City CA 90232
Fritz Chesnut,
Gold Moiré 1, 2023
Acrylic on canvas over panel
76.2 x 61 cm
30 x 24 in
Fritz Chesnut,
Condensation, 2022
Acrylic and enamel on canvas over panel
61 x 48.3 cm
24 x 19 in
Swell Season Surf Podcast
I was a guest recently on the Swell Season Surf Podcast. Had a chance to chat with my good friend Tyler Breuer about my painting practice, surfing in NYC and LA and being a dad to a teenage surf frother. Listen HERE or your favorite podcast app.
2022 Venice Art Walk+Auction, April 15 through May 1
Fritz Chesnut, Trails, 2021
Enamel and Acrylic on Canvas over Panel
24 × 19 × 1 1/2 in
61 × 48.3 × 3.8 cm
gift of the artist and AF Projects Los Angeles
My painting “Trails” will be included in the 2022 Venice Family Clinic Art Walk+Auction, April 15 through May 1. https://www.artsy.net/artwork/fritz-chesnut-trails-2
Bidding starts April 15th! The work in the auction can also be viewed in person at 395 Santa Monica Pl, Santa Monica, CA.
This year, the iconic Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction returns April 15-May 1 with in-person and online opportunities to discover, bid and collect to support the Clinic's mission! Starting April 15, bid on more than 200 artworks by established and emerging artists online at Artsy or view the art in person at Venice Art Walk Gallery at Santa Monica Place. This year's event also features the Clinic's first-ever NFT auction hosted by Nifty Gateway! All proceeds help Venice Family Clinic provide essential healthcare to nearly 45,000 people in their expanded service area from the Santa Monica Mountains through the South Bay. #VeniceArtWalk #VeniceArtWalkGallery artsy.net/veniceartwalk
Artnet.com coverage of Floating Windows
Artnet.com coverage of Floating Windows: Spotlight: Los Angeles Artist Fritz Chesnut Creates Optically Dazzling Paintings Through Intricate Processes
Fritz Chesnut
Night Swimming, 2020
acrylic and enamel on canvas over panel, 16" wide x 20" high
"Floating Windows" - 02/19/22 to 04/02/22
Opening February 19th - 6 to 8pm
AF Projects
7503 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
AF Projects is pleased to present Floating Windows, an exhibition of process-driven abstract painting by Los Angeles based artist Fritz Chesnut. The exhibition features a series of paintings that continue his material exploration crafting an evolving abstract language where bands of color and line allude to form and images.
Chesnut’s paintings incorporate fields of color with an overlaid pattern or skin. Each painting begins flat and he works a base layer of paint onto the canvas. Various tools are then used to make the mark – lines, grids, dots, which are then sprayed with paint across laterally and at times in opposing directions— creating a three dimensional approach to painting that produces an optical effect of highlighted ridges and shaded recesses.
By tilting the canvas and letting gravity take over, the skin of sprayed paint drifts, brakes and warps, at times reforming or spilling off the edge. The resulting works are frozen snapshots of a dynamic event. Open spaces are marred by debris. Fields of color are broken. These paintings mimic the formation of terrestrial surfaces. Chesnut’s work has been often described as topographical, alien, otherworldly, apocalyptic, a synthesis of man made and organic.
Equally informed by minimalism, op art and the light and space movement as by Xerox art and DIY punk aesthetics, Chesnut’s paintings embody a particular west coast aesthetic.
Fritz Chesnut was born in 1973 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his BA from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1995 and his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 1997. He has had solo exhibitions at There-There and C. Nichols Project, (Los Angeles), Country Club, (Los Angeles and Cincinnati), CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, (San Francisco) and Bellwether Gallery, (New York). His work has been seen in such venues as LAXART, Los Angeles, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, Pepin-Moore, Los Angeles, White Columns, New York, The Bronx Museum, New York, and Andrew Rafacz, Chicago, among many others.
LOUISE ALEXANDER GALLERY/AF PROJECTS
Los Angeles, USA: 7503 Sunset Boulevard, 90046
BEYOND WORDS: In Support of Black-led organizations Fighting for Social Justice and Equity
I’ve donated artwork to an online show and fundraiser where 100% of the sale of my work is donated to Color of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. Thanks for your support. Info below.
Fritz Chesnut
PERIOD RUSH, 2020
Acrylic on Paper 24 x 18 inches
BEYOND WORDS:
In Support of Black-led organizations Fighting for Social Justice and Equity
June 26 - July 25, 2020
“What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” —Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. "Where Do We Go From Here", 1967
If ever there was a moment where our words seem illogical, insufficient, and unworthy—if ever there was a moment where our actions counted—that moment is now. We know that we cannot bring back the countless lives of black women, men and transgender people who have suffered from police violence, and whose deaths by law enforcement, or other violent and hateful means, have not received justice, and who most certainly did not deserve to die. As we, as a greater public, awaken and acknowledge the systemic racism that is the foundation of our nation, we have a choice to make: to take action or be complicit to these atrocities. We must demand accountability in all levels of government, in our communities, and of ourselves.
We are emboldened by the efforts of these Black-led organizations advocating for crucial and fundamental change and want to support these endeavors. We at CULT are committed to supporting and contributing to organizations that fight for justice, safety, equal rights, respect and resources for people of color. We demand economic, racial and social justice, and call for full eradication of police terror.
Today we launch Beyond Words, a fundraising online exhibition supporting the following organizations with incredible donations of art from our community; 100% of sales proceeds will go to support these very crucial social justice efforts. We encourage you to join us.
Artists included are: Miya Ando, Drew Bennett, Fritz Chesnut, Dan Davis, Heather Day, Francesco Igory Deiana, Chris Duncan, Kori Girard, Rebekah Goldstein, Nicki Green, Dana Harel, Jamil Hellu, Trulee Hall, Sarah Hotchkiss, Koak, Natalie Krick, Amy Lincoln, Terri Loewenthal, Nion McEvoy Jr., Masako Miki, John Paul Morabito, Amy Nathan, James Sterling Pitt, Jenny Sharaf, Leslie Shows, Allison Smith, Dean Smith, Cate White, David Wilson, Lena Wolff, Henna Vainio, Ido Yoshimoto, Amber Jean Young, Ruxue Zhang
Fritz Chesnut
Whitecaps, 2020
Acrylic and enamel on canvas over panel
16 × 12 × 1 1/2 in
40.6 × 30.5 × 3.8 cm
Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction 2020
I donated this little gem of a painting to this year's Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction @venicefamilyclinic. Please bid and support! Go to www.artsy.net/artwork/fritz-chesnut-whitecaps to bid.
Online bidding for this year’s Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction starts May 3 at 12pm PST on @artsy and will feature more than 150 artworks by nationally recognized contemporary artists.
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Proceeds help #VeniceFamilyClinic provide essential health care to nearly 28,000 low-income, uninsured, and homeless people in Los Angeles and also support ongoing #COVID19 response.
LA Times review of my show "Test Patterns"
LA Times review of my show "Test Patterns" by Leah Ollman.
"Test Patterns" at there-there
My show "Test Patterns" opens Oct 3rd at there-there, 6-9pm. Show runs Oct 3rd through Oct 31st, 2019.
there-there is pleased to present Test Patterns, an exhibition of process-driven abstract painting by Los Angeles based artist Fritz Chesnut.
Chesnut’s newest body of work continues the evolution of his preoccupation with abstraction and its inherent tensions with acts of representation. Forms are conjured by heat, weight and tactility of the paint in and of itself. The surfaces are dynamic and distorted creating a kind of cartographic language, breaking with the grid. With this work, experimental geometries swell and warp.
Inspirations can be seen in nature and in the environmental crisis. The fields are ridden with webs, trails and patterns. His topographical gestures are organic and automatic. Some works conjure the cosmos.
His minimal palette is often inspired by everything from punk zines and flyers to Warhol. His gestures include pouring, spraying, stenciling, printing and sanding.
These works are produced using screens, netting, fencing and industrial materials. By both stenciling and literally pressing the screen into paint, patterns appear and are distorted by gravity and water. In other paintings, trowels are used to form striated lines. Chesnut is interested in the movement of the works - appearing to be in an ambivalent state of formation or dissolution.
He employs spray paint, through and across the surface of the painting, and in some instances lifts and moves the skin of the sprayed paint with water, enabling it to float and disperse.
The artist reveals, “The main event taking place is the interplay of materials, of oil and water producing a dance of resistance and cooperation. Everything settles into place”.
Fritz is interested in the duality of the structure of the hybridic paintings. Sometimes the work appears to mimic the photographic through play with depiction, dimension, image, space and surface. He sees the work structurally akin to the process by which geological evolution creates patterns or fractals in the earth’s surface.
Fritz Chesnut was born in 1973 in Santa Fe, New Mexico and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his BA from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1995 and his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 1997. He has had solo exhibitions at c. nichols project, (Los Angeles), Country Club, (Los Angeles and Cincinnati), CULT/Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, (San Francisco) and Bellwether Gallery, (New York). His work has been seen in such venues as LAXART, Los Angeles, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, Pepin-Moore, Los Angeles, White Columns, New York, The Bronx Museum, New York, and Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, among many others.
there-there.co
Address: 4859 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Phone: (323) 741-8097
Contact: office@there-there.co
Upcoming show at there-there
I have a solo show that opens at there-there in Los Angeles October 3rd. Save the date. More info soon.
Venice Family Clinic Art Walk & Auction
I’m donating a new piece to this great cause. Many great artists involved. Open to the public Sunday May 19th. Bidding is live now on paddle 8. https://paddle8.com/work/fritz-chesnut/175374-automatic-float-defender/
showing with Junior Projects at the Dallas Art Fair
DALLAS ART FAIR
Fritz Chesnut
Guy C. Corriero
Stuart Elster
Maskull Lasserre
Frank Magnotta
Stand D14
Fashion Industry Gallery
1807 Ross Avenue, Dallas
April 9 - 12, 2015