Troy Lamarr Chew II, “The T-shirt Pusher” (2024), oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches (121.9 x 121.9 cm) (all photos courtesy the artist and Altman Siegel, San Francisco)
SAN FRANCISCO — In his new exhibition at Altman Siegel, Troy Lamarr Chew II muses on the social invisibility of his topics via the straightforward gadget of depicting features of their our bodies as if clear. Figures and their environment are rendered intimately save for faces and limbs, via which background objects could be seen, as in the event that they had been manufactured from plastic or glass. With this method, Chew reveals hints of the bigger forces of tradition and society that outline and marginalize topics like his, most of whom, regardless of their clear masks, appear to be Black or Brown. Can we actually see one another, Chew asks, or are we trying proper via?
Seen via the faces and limbs of human figures, workplaces and residing quarters — together with the streets — and their related ephemera emerge because the structural presences that supersede most different parts of particular person persona. In “The T-shirt Pusher” (all works 2024), for example, the small print and surfaces of equipment in a small classic manufacturing unit are rendered clearly and exactly within the close to background, besides in a single location: The translucent head of a lone determine, seated within the foreground on a stack of transport bins, muddles and distorts each equipment and human visage.
Troy Lamarr Chew II, “Hold the blocc down” (2024), oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches (121.9 x 91.4 cm)
Murky areas amidst cautious detailing could be present in most of the works. “Hold the blocc down,” for example, options an unclear object on the decrease left — maybe the sting of a tent — hinting, together with a small array of surrounding possessions akin to a motorcycle and procuring cart, at life lived on the road. The automobile behind the portray’s topic, partially seen via his translucent head, appears as a lot shelter as car, with a tarp protecting a lot of its roof.
Whereas Chew locations most of his topics in city or constructed environments, there may be some selection in setting. Within the bucolic “Office Break,” tall grasses glow via the face of a smiling, seated determine, maybe suggesting extra peace of thoughts outside. And “Boutta work on this painting” is likely to be a barely meta self-portrait of the artist in his house studio. The warped nook of an empty image body emerges via a naked leg, actually binding the artist to his work.
In “Sweet Lullabies,” the saturated almost-rainbow palette of a pc monitor’s read-out bleeds via and highlights particulars of a singer’s face in a recording studio. His arm extends ever-so-slightly towards the foreground of the portray, his fingers tensed with a kinetic engagement that contrasts with the languidness of the figures in many of the different work. Whereas the stillness of these individuals suggests not merely ready however the elementary suppression of vitality by their circumstances, the singer comes alive with the indicators of his musical efficiency — one occasion the place cultural forces enable private expression to shine via.
Troy Lamarr Chew II, “Sweet Lullabies” (2024), oil on canvas, 36 x 67 5/8 inches (91.4 x 171.8 cm)
Troy Lamarr Chew II, “Office Break” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Troy Lamarr Chew II, “All Smiles” (2024), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Troy Lamarr Chew II continues at Altman Siegel (1150 twenty fifth Road, San Francisco, California), via December 21. The exhibition was organized by the gallery.
