Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chandler Dangaard. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chandler, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

Graduating college during Covid. paying full tuition for 10% of the education being taught fine art via zoom. Throwing my graduation cap and having it hit my popcorn ceiling in my studio apartment, alone. I never thought my family would be able to see me graduate from college, and after four years of hard work, I was still right. Worse than all of that is the closing of my most important networking opportunity, the senior show exhibition at Otis college, completely canceled. My dreams felt crushed. Luckily I found teaching and have been earning a humble, stable wage. But it is far from what I wanted or planned for pre covid.. I have a lot more about this story I could go deeply into

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I studied at Otis college of art and design earning a bachelors in fine art. I work mostly with oil paint on canvas. My paintings have a heavy focus in mixing traditional still life compositions with modern technology, screens, and objects of nostalgia. In my work I explore space, form, and imagination through paintings and also sculptural installations. Ranging in content, my work revolves around depicting mundane, everyday objects with an air of romanticization. With a large admiration for Dutch Still Lifes, habitually my arrangements seemed to nod to the old masters. I harken back to settings and objects that recall a simpler time, just beyond the reach of the viewer. I tend to focus on tapping into the feeling that you (my audience) receive when you bite into something nostalgic of your childhood. I often refer to technology in my work because it is rapidly evolving, and an easy way to timestamp. I attempt to force imagination through manipulation of space, blurring the lines between wall and floor planes, and limiting color palettes. I am most proud of my larger paintings. The 6 foot tall stacks of Tv’s alongside all the work I have done involving screens. including my plaster sculptures of Tv’s and my installations. Screens feel like a secondary canvas within a canvas that can be a lot less stressful to plan what goes in them. I have also worked on large scale murals across los Angeles. Connecting the streets with fine art is also something I am very passionate about.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think anyone in their respected fields does what they do because they enjoy it, right? Sadly enough the majority of us experience the opposite. The reason I fell in love with studying and making art is that it allows the artists to approach life as a bystander. To become fascinated by anything under the sun, or even beyond, and then be able to study that topic rigorously in order to produce an original visual work of art based on your findings. To be an artist in any medium means you must observe. Wether that be auditorial, visual, sensual, or anything else, you are exercising your ability to observe, listen, and learn. I think that is a beautiful way to host an existence. You might not be setting your self up for the most financially stable life style one could think of, but it is certainly a self fulfilling one.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Having to lose my last year and a half of in-person learning at my college stripped me of the networking opportunities they stressed would be our way into the art world. I had to pivot my entire career choice as a freelance artist working under apprenticeships and assistant gigs to that of another rat in the race for a stable pay check. I am currently still working under those changes two years later with no help from the university I graduated from. Although I am currently happy with my position, I often think what could have been.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: cheechler

Image Credits
Myself, Chandler Dangaard, and my father, Christian Dangaard.