ALEAH CHAPIN: NIGHT BLOOM

Simard Bilodeau Contemporary is thrilled to present Night Bloom, a new exhibition of paintings by the Los Angeles based artist, Aleah Chapin and her first solo show in the city. Continuing her exploration of the human form and the interplay of abstraction and realism as a vehicle for expressive and emotive communication, the show will feature a group of paintings ranging in size from 5 inches to 12 feet.

Originating from recent personal experiences of grief after the death of a close friend, Night Bloom presents viewers with an installation of paintings that evoke a procession or ritualistic experience. A group of small paintings are scattered on opposing walls, suggesting a meadow and framing a single large triptych, which serves as a kind of centerpiece. Included in the show are two works on paper created in the days immediately following the tragedy, which were the seeds for this exhibition.  

The paintings all carry a balance of oppositions: warm and cool, constriction and expansion, flatness and fullness of form. They’re also influenced by Chapin’s interest in the relationship between individual and collective experience, the concept of imperfect bilateral symmetry, and Eckart Tolle’s writings on the ‘first flower’ being both a metaphor and an inspiration for the evolution of human consciousness.

Hands play an important role in this exhibition, as seen in the meadow of paintings leading to the triptych. In each piece, hands come together to create flower-like forms, clearly recognizable before morphing into abstracted petals of blue. Titled sequentially as Night Bloom, these flowers grow out of pools of darkness, yet seem to create their own light, a warmth of sunshine urging them to unfold. 

A Breath on Dandelion Seeds, an 8 x 12 foot triptych, pulls its title from a piece of writing by Chapin’s late friend, River Sola. The largest piece in the show, it’s an explosion reminiscent of a flower or flame, yet made of many bodies. Feet press firmly on the base of the canvas, as if to ground the painting, legs curving in towards mirrored, sunken forms that face out from the center. This pelvis of the painting is where pain lives. The constriction is visceral. A tiny seed of light between pointed toes is the beginning of upward movement, an expansion out of a blue tinged night into a biomorphic, communal sunrise. 

Transformation is at the heart of this new body of work, both in a painting’s ability to communicate through the transformation of materials, and in the pictorial vision of personal transformation through suffering and loss. “The timing of this exhibition opening in the immediate aftermath of the Los Angeles fires, heartbreakingly fits...” says Chapin. “The loss and grief that this city is experiencing cannot be understated, but the sense of community, kindness, and resiliency shows that even in the darkest night, we can bloom.”  Ultimately, this is a show about hope. 

Aleah Chapin (b. 1986 Whidbey Island, WA) is a painter whose direct portrayals of the human form have expanded the conversation around western culture’s representations of the body in art. Described by Eric Fischl as “the best and most disturbing painter of flesh alive today,” she has exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the world, including Flowers Gallery (New York, London, Hong Kong), the Belvedere Museum (Vienna), the National Portrait Gallery (London) and Oceanside Museum (California). Chapin has attended residencies at the Leipzig International Art Program (Germany) and MacDowell (United States). She is a recipient of the Willard L. Metcalf Promising Young Painters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (New York), the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (Canada), a Postgraduate Fellowship from the New York Academy of Art, and won the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery (London) in 2012. She holds an MFA from the New York Academy of Art (New York) and a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts (Seattle). Chapin’s work has been published extensively, including New American Paintings, Juxtapoz, Art Maze Magazine, London Sunday Times and the Seattle Times, among others. She is also a subject in the BBC documentary titled “Portrait of an Artist”. Aleah Chapin lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.