Monday, November 26, 2018

Happy Holidays!


Hope all of you had a wonderful holiday weekend. Singulart has just posted a new feature "A Day with Gregg Chadwick". Link here -

https://blog.singulart.com/en/2018/11/26/a-day-with-gregg-chadwick/ Hope you enjoy it!


I also just took part in an amazing art and therapy collaboration entitled
The Perception Project which paired me with a trauma survivor.
I created the artwork and wrote the thoughts below for the project.



Gregg Chadwick
A Resilient Light
24"x18" oil on linen 2018

A Resilient Light (The Perception Project)

Chelsea’s life story inspired me to paint A Resilient Light
With her therapist present, we engaged in a rich discussion that outlined
the challenges she has overcome and the path she has laid out for her journey.
As Chelsea spoke, I pictured a long stairway with one end in the past
and the summit in the future. In my mind, I saw Chelsea at different stages
along this stairway.  Maybe hesitant steps at first.
Perhaps a tumble here or there.
But Chelsea is a survivor and she keeps climbing.
A warm, welcoming light illuminates this path forward
and seems to urge Chelsea on.

Later, in my studio I began to put layers of paint down.
The stairway came first and originally reached towards the top of
the linen canvas. A small figure vanishing into a fog of light looked fine
but did not carry the emotional weight of our conversation.
Instead, I flipped the vantage point so that we were in the future looking back
towards the past. In my mind, Chelsea’s resilient voice resonated,
which helped me create a strong, brave character moving across
the surface of the painting. This female figure appears in multiple stages
of the climb. Movement and energy abound.

She follows a resilient path. In the distance, a figure in red
watches over her and supports her.  A parent figure perhaps or a therapist.

I painted A Resilient Light in the hope that it will inspire Chelsea
and others as they courageously climb the stairs of life.






Tuesday, November 20, 2018

Transgender Rights: A Decades-long Struggle for Equality





On , we look back on the underreported role transwomen played in the riots of 1969, predated by a little-known uprising at a San Francisco cafeteria.

Wednesday, November 07, 2018

Democrats find a new voice!


by Gregg Chadwick


For the first time in two years, I had a deeply restful sleep last night. After watching anti-union and anti-education Scott Walker fall to Tony Evers in Wisconsin and viewing Harley Rouda's lead over Russian stooge Dana Rohrabacher in CA  48, I felt hopeful. My painting The Future Is Woke no longer felt aspirational  - we did it! Retaking the House with a Blue Wave is the first step in restoring sanity in our nation.  After last night's powerful rebuke to the blowhard in the White House, it is clear as  Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey write in the Washington Post that Democrats found "a new voice, with a new generation of leaders emerging and a new playbook for winning." As Barack Obama put it: "Congratulations to everybody who showed up and participated in our democracy in record numbers yesterday. The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it."

Voters elected the U.S.'s first Muslim congresswomen, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota (left)
Jared Polis in Colorado defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Walker Stapleton to become the first openly gay man elected governor in the U.S.(center)
Sharice Davids of Kansas and Debra Haaland of New Mexico, both Democrats, are the first Native American women elected to Congress. (right)

(photos by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images, Whitney Curtis AFP via NPR)

NPR reports that "record numbers of 
Native AmericansMuslim Americans and women, including many women of color, ran for office in 2018. A "rainbow wave" of LGBTQ candidates also sought office. And after the ballots were cast, all those groups notched notable firsts." 
As the father of a trans daughter, I am heartened that Massachusetts passed a transgender protection law that should inspire other states to do the same. And in Florida, Amendment 4 passed easily, restoring voting rights to 1.4 million ex-felons. 

Beto O'Rourke ran a hard fought campaign and was amazingly positive in defeat. Dare I say presidential? - "We just want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. Everyone who made us feel hopeful, everyone who inspired us. Everyone who became the most amazing campaign we could have ever hoped to belong to. Grateful that we got to do this with you. We love you. Goodnight!"


All political races are important, including local school boards and state legislatures. Yesterday, Democrats flipped "seven state legislative chambers and 333 seats, adding 6 more trifectas (gov+both chambers), per DLCC." As Alex Seitz Wald noted on twitter: "Few ever pay attention to these races, but they’re important for redistributing and waves can be leveraged for major gains."





Adding to the good news, with the Democratic take over of the House, Eddie Bernice Johnson, a congresswoman with a STEM background as a nurse is poised to wrest the House Science committee from climate change deniers. She promises to "Restore the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected and recognized."
Last night, at least 10 candidates with backgrounds in science won seats, bolstering the House’s new ranks of science advocates. 




We Won the House now let's keep going! - - We Need All Hands on Deck in 2019






Tuesday, November 06, 2018

Thank You For Voting!









Friday, November 02, 2018

Thank You for Visiting The Other Art Fairs!

by Gregg Chadwick


Still enjoying the buzz from The Other Art Fair in Santa Monica and The Other Art Fair in Chicago. What a month! Thank you to all my new collectors and art lovers. Such great conversations and incredible interest in my work. Hope to see you again soon. #RedDots #Art #ContemporaryArt Saatchi Art The Other Art Fair

"Land of Hope and Dreams" from Springsteen on Broadway

Gregg Chadwick
American River (for Greil Marcus)
24”x36” oil on linen 2016

Audis Husar Gallery, Beverly Hills
                








Bruce Springsteen has pre-released an album from his Springsteen on Broadway engagement.
His album announcement is accompanied by a first taste of his Broadway recording: an acoustic version of his train metaphor song "Land of Hope and Dreams." 
Lauren Onkey writes about the song on NPR Music:
"Land of Hope and Dreams" is the penultimate song of the Broadway show, an uplifting end to a night that features a lot of heartbreaking stories of characters — including Springsteen himself — who fall into isolation. Rooted in the gospel song "This Train" and The Impressions' 1965 gospel-soul hit "People Get Ready," "Land of Hope and Dreams" imagines a communal train where all are welcome — saints, sinners, whores, gamblers, thieves, lost souls, fools, kings, the brokenhearted — as it heads off to unknown future. It's classic Springsteen: grand, optimistic, spiritual and open-ended enough to be embraced by a big audience....
Springsteen has performed "Land of Hope and Dreams" often for benefit concerts and political rallies, including campaign stops for Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. It seems no coincidence, then, that he's released it on the eve of the midterm elections, and into the teeth of a violent and divisive time in American life. It's an assertion that we're all in this together.