Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gregg Chadwick. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Gregg , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Painting Portraits
I paint portraits of cultural and political figures, both past and present, that inspire me. There is something almost magical in the process of creating a portrait. It feels like alchemy to will an image of a breathing soul from a blank canvas. Each time I begin a painting of a person, I aim to bring the subject’s hopes, struggles, and dreams into my artwork. I begin by looking and listening to the story of the life in the person before me. I try to capture these stories in the eyes of my painted portraits. Often at the moment when a new painting is revealed and they see their finished portrait for the first time, the person portrayed will audibly gasp. “There I am”, they seem to say.
The people of Los Angeles intrigue me. Four of my portrait projects, described below, bring aspects of the city’s art and history to life.
Painting Yareli Arizmendi’s portrait brought her magic into my studio. Yareli is an exceptional actress, audio book narrator, writer, and director. She rose to prominence with her role as Rosaura in the film “Like Water for Chocolate” and continues to push boundaries with her work and activism.
Soon after painting Yareli, I begin to paint portraits of her husband Sergio Arau. With his music, words and images, Sergio Arau has inspired me to create a series of artworks that feature him as the main character in my painted movies. Rock Star, actor, director, screenwriter, and artist Sergio Arau has often performed while wearing gear honoring Mexico’s most famous wrestling star El Santo (The Man in the Silver Mask). Known as lucha libre, Mexican wrestlers such as El Santo are defenders of the poor and vulnerable.
Recently, Los Angeles Metro commissioned me to paint a portrait of artist, curator, and train rider Frida Cano as part of their inspiring project “We Are … Portraits of Metro Riders by Local Artists.” Frida Cano lives in Echo Park and often travels on the E Line to her art curatorial position in Santa Monica. Frida lives and breathes the concerns of our times. She writes,” As an emerging Mexican artist and curator, focused on the reevaluation of history and culture through Latin American perspectives, it has been my concern to truly communicate the social issues of our times.” Frida rides the train and sees the world reflected in the glass of the E Line as she travels across L.A. Frida believes that art curators, in tandem with artists and critics, can bring circulating and hidden ideas to light. This zeitgeist informed my portrait of Frida Cano, pictured thinking as she waits for the E train.
Born in Los Angeles, a few blocks from Chinatown, Anna May Wong was the first Chinese American film star and the first Asian American actress to gain international recognition. Her acting career went from silent films to talkies, to stage, to radio, and to television. My portrait of Anna May Wong is in the collection of esteemed NPR reporter Ailsa Chang. Inspired by the portrait and prompted by a visit to my studio, Ailsa has commissioned me to paint a portrait of one of her family members. The paint on this new artwork is wet as the work in progress sits on my easel waiting for new layers of oil colors.
Including Ailsa’s portrait in progress, I am currently working on four new commissioned portraits. In the future, I hope to invite all of the folks that I have painted portraits of to an event and exhibition that will enable them to gather together and for me to thank them for the privilege of sharing their stories.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
A Life in Art: Mixing Past and Present
Like many artists, I started creating drawings and paintings when I was quite young. The subtle smells of graphite and paper, first drew me in and then the world of images that I was able to create with these tools opened up vast worlds for me. I devoured art classes, art books, and museum visits as if I needed sustenance from paint and canvas. As a young teenager I took classes at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC and after class was out, I would carry my sketchbook to the National Gallery of Art where I would draw my thoughts about the paintings in the collection. I was shy at first but soon enjoyed the camaraderie and knowledge of the museum guards who would show interest in me and my drawings.
I haunted museums that explored the sights and sounds of art, music, history, and technology. As a kid, I had an insatiable desire to experience the past and to learn about the future. I still follow this path laid out for me years before. I find myself drawn to artworks, architectural spaces, and transportation devices that meld the past and present. Sometimes literally, like architect Gae Aulenti’s reimagining of the Gare d’Orsay into the Musée d’Orsay in Paris which brings us face to face with the hands of time. While living in San Francisco, I lived a few blocks from the Main Library and watched as Aulenti transformed the Beaux Arts building into the Asian Art Museum. Aulenti referred to the mix of past and present in her architectural renovations as a “double ambiguity.” I have spent many days in both museums bathing in the architectural spaces and the art. With sketchbook and camera in hand, I roam spaces that carry this double ambiguity- sketching details, pulling visual moments, and jotting down ideas. I hadn’t read Faulkner yet but the urban world around me seemed to whisper that “the past is not dead; it is not even the past.” Many of my paintings have risen directly from these journeys. To make sense of the present and gain hope for the future by understanding the past is a goal I reach for each day.
Currently, I am a local artist in residence at the 18th Street Art Center’s Airport Campus in Santa Monica, California. I create most of my oil on linen paintings and works on paper in my studio space at the Santa Monica Airport. I am interested in the hum and blur of time and memory as seen from our vantage point in the 21st Century. When a visitor first enters my studio, the mix of people, places, and things can temporarily disorient them. Movement is a constant feature in my art and for many my working space seems alive with life and possibility. Often, a visit to my studio by art lovers will lead to new conversations, new ideas, and new projects.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Remover of Obstacles
In September 2022, under consultation with my primary physician and specialists, it became clear that I needed a double hip replacement. On January 11, 2023, under the expert care of Dr. Adam Sassoon at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, I had my left hip replaced. Then on May 11, 2023, Dr. Sassoon and team gave me a new right hip. Before my surgeries I faced extreme difficulty in movement. Going to the studio and painting became almost impossible. The cartilage in both hips was gone and the bone-to-bone friction had led to severe bone spurs that sent waves of pain down my legs. The idea of facing two surgeries within five months was daunting but the idea of not being able to paint was even worse. To prepare myself for the surgical trauma ahead, I worked diligently with my physical therapist Jafari Jackson at UCLA. The hard work proved instrumental in my post-surgery success. And a change in mindset also was necessary. I had to ask for help, which wasn’t easy for me. Until my hips began to fail, I gritted out most physical challenges and my pain tolerance was off the charts. Something had to give. True resilience comes not from gutting it out, but from creating a path through the obstacles. Elephants would be needed to help me along this path. Elephants are remarkable animals with extraordinary strength and wisdom and are a recurring theme in my art practice. After my first surgery, I was able to resume painting and created an oil on linen work of an African Elephant entitled “Elephant Song” for the Los Angeles Zoo’s annual benefit. The title refers to the low frequency method of elephant communication. Elephants sing using the same physical principles as humans – using their immense larynx to produce very low notes. Pitched below the range of human hearing, these infrasounds can travel long distances and enable elephants to connect with other elephants in hearing range. Like the elephants I was painting, I needed to reach out to my support group. My wife MarySue Heilemann was the point person in my recovery and my daughter Cassiel and her partner Steph were key contacts to keep my spirits up. My brother Kent and his wife Cathy along with my Mom and Dad provided support from afar. And the team at TriFit Fitness Center in Santa Monica continues to encourage me as I sweat out my rehab at the gym. After my second hip replacement, I woke up from surgery dreaming of elephants. As the anesthesia wore off, I remembered a vivid vision I had during the procedure. I was in an elephant refuge in Kenya with a portable easel set up and brushes in hand painting pictures of wild elephants. Bliss and beauty were all around.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
My studio walls are lined with books that have helped me travel the artistic path, but it was one brief conversation in a gallery in New York that has proven to be the most helpful business advice that I have ever received. As I was finishing up graduate school in art at NYU, I stopped in for a portfolio review at Ivan Karp’s OK Harris Gallery in SoHo. I waited in line and grew ever more nervous as I watched Ivan sharply critique the artists ahead of me. “You’re wasting my time”, he said over and over as under prepared artists slid their work in front of him. “Have a clear concept and presently it clearly!”, Ivan intoned. “Show me only your best work”, he said. Two great concepts there. And then it was my turn. I handed Ivan a crisp black portfolio with large 8”x11” color transparencies that a photo lab processed for me. “Strong presentation”, Ivan said. “I like your work, but you knew I would because your urban themes are similar to some of the artists that I already show.” Ivan then stopped, thought for a second and said, “I can’t show you but there are a lot of new galleries opening in the East Village and you should show there now. Leave school. You are ready to show in New York.” I felt encouraged but that wasn’t the most important advice. Ivan paused again and said, “Let me tell you my business secret. You noticed the postcards at the entrance when you came in. Did you also notice that I don’t give them away. They are 25 cents each. Not a lot of money, but a transaction all the same. I don’t ask money for them because I turn a profit on them. No, I put a price on them so that everyone who walks into my gallery can afford to buy something. Even if it is only a postcard.” Then he leaned towards me and said, “You have good work. You will have a career, but make sure that you don’t forget the little guy who loves your work or the new collectors just starting out. Make sure that you have your artworks at all price points. Small to large. That’s the secret – make sure that everyone who loves your work can afford to buy something. And they will. And they will continue to follow you and maybe someday buy a big painting like these over here.”
Contact Info:
- Website: www.greggchadwick.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greggchadwick/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gregg.chadwick
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greggchadwick/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/greggchadwick
- Other: https://greggchadwick.blogspot.com/
Image Credits
Gregg Chadwick