IPRA presents Paul Chatem
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maggio
Paul Chatem was born in 1974 in Bellevue, Washington, but grew up in La Crescenta on the outskirts of Los Angeles. He spent most of his time hunting snakes and scorpions in the Tujunga Wash, exploring ruins of forgotten ranches, shantytowns, and asylums, and ducking punches at punk shows with his friends.
Growing up in an environment where nature, history, and the impoverished were constantly being pushed aside to make room for golf courses and mini-malls, Paul developed a keen talent for representing the rift between rich and poor, the working man and the boss man, in his surreal, often nightmarish, narrative paintings.
Chatem’s illustration style is deeply rooted in vintage advertising, comic books, and animation. His finished pieces are subtly aged and worn, creating the sense that they could have just as easily been constructed in the 1920s as much as they are very characteristic of the times we live in now. is current works focus on a series of large- and small-scale kinetic pieces that invite curiosity and interaction. By simply turning a crank, Chatem’s hand-cut wooden gears spring to life, and the viewer is able to manipulate the composition and create movement within his vivid, carefully painted scenes.
Major influences in his creative life include Max Fleischer, E.C. Segar, Tom Waits, Charlie patton, The Cramps, and a host of early advertising illustrators. He has been honored to show his works at the Shooting Gallery, SF; Copro, Black maria, C.A.V.E., and Dialect Galleries in Los Angeles; Feinkunst-Krueger Gallery, Hamburg, Mondo Pop and Dorothy Circus, Rome; as well as numerous group shows in Europe and North America.
Paul is currently hiding out in the fog-bound sierra foothills with his tortoises, the mud, and the bugs.
Francesco
Laureato in biblioteconomia, autore del volume sull'editoria underground italiana dal titolo "Underground: ascesa e declino di un'altra editoria 1966-1977" edito da Costa & Nolan e già collaboratore della rivista di collezionismo "Vintage" con una rubrica sulla poster art.