EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHAZ GUEST
INEFFABLE INK
THE EMBODIMENT OF EMOTION IN INK & OIL On canvas, on linen, Chaz Guest bleeds ink and oil in a way that pulses with the very essence of raw emotion. I dared myself not to cry. I lost the dare as I dared to stare at his work, with oil based figures that seemed to stare back as if present in permanence. The work of Chaz Guest is embedded with pure empathy. More than paintings you ‘look’ at, his work exists as ‘moments’ you engage with.
Allié: It was in oil and ink on linen, your painting entitled ‘Booker Cooper, 1856’. The image of this African American soldier stared at me, as I stared back. How do you do that with paint? How are you able to create with ink and oil a gaze that holds the stare of a viewer?
Chaz: You know, what comes to me is to have my subject, even if I'm not painting the person, to have that subject present his or herself to you. And especially when it comes to subjects that I'm painting in history. Like if I'm painting some imagery from our history in the cotton fields or the soldier that you speak of, these are individuals that I conjure that have never had a voice. And I desperately want that conversation to happen through my painting. I want them to present themselves as dignified people -- otherwise known as slaves. In fact, they were enslaved people. So let's start there. That's where I started, whereby, listening to my grandmother who lived to be 103, listening to her stories and what she's been through.
INEFFABLE INK
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHAZ GUEST
23 AWARENOW / THE KIND EDITION
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