Local look: chico
MUSINGS ON THE CHICO ART SCENE
A projection of the foothills on fire was the only sobering imagery in this otherwise sunny exhibit. The rest of the predominantly found-footage film by Chatkupt was sunlit, haunting, non-narrative, faintly documentary, and encapsulates the essence of citrusy Pasadena where both artists reside.
What I had perceived but not identified, until hearing the artists talk, was the presence of children. One can follow the youthful primary colors peppering the show. A lego block (Duplo…I stand corrected), a lemon held in tiny hands, a pacifier next to Nakaue’s ikebana/freakebana-inspired, digitally-animated film. I sense an incandescent childhood amongst these creative adults. Nakaue’s dancing, grass-covered, animated figure (so lovingly rendered), embodies the myth of Sasquatch matched with equal parts meme and gif. Her freakebana’s (the less formal, sometimes ugly, and very cool cousin of traditional Japanese floral arrangement, ikebana), contains the plants that remind Nakaue of her own Hawaiian childhood. Chatkupt built altar-like arrangements of photographs, criss-crossing powerlines, the cast shadow of a palm frond, rocks, leaves, and seed pods commemorated against white backgrounds, truly become treasures when removed from their hyper-urban landscape.
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AuthorSara Smallhouse is tenure-track faculty in Art History at Butte College, teaches every once in a while at CSU, Chico, and is on the Board of Directors of monca (Museum of Northern California Art). She likes to walk around and look at things with her family, friends, or solo. Archives
February 2022
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