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  • Date
    17 JULY 2024
    Author
    LORRAINE CRUZ
    Image by
    CHRIS TRUEMAN
    Categories
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    Chris Trueman and The Art of Being an Artist

    Throughout our school and university years, we often seek support and encouragement from teachers, yet this isn't always our reality. Many of us have been fortunate to encounter at least one teacher who saw us as more than just students, recognizing our unique desires and individualities. Imagine engaging with such a figure beyond the classroom. I recently had the chance to speak with Chris Trueman, a teacher and artist with much wisdom to share.

    Chris’s journey began in middle school, inspired by a supportive teacher. Initially pursuing business, he shifted to art after his father's career change. Chris's unique technique combines gesture painting with spray, influenced by graffiti and street art. He also embraces digital art and NFTs, reflecting our dual physical and virtual realities.

    Chris believes mentors are crucial in navigating the art world. He advises students to be professional and supportive, emphasizing that opportunities often come through relationships. His dual roles provide invaluable insights for aspiring artists.

     

     

    Chris, could you start by talking about your childhood and what led you to become an artist? Today you do what you always wanted to do?                   

    I started to draw and make art in Middle school and was encouraged by a teacher who awarded me the art student of the year, it wasn’t the quality of the work but I think it was that I really put a lot of effort in. In highschool I was known for my artwork and I started showing my work in coffee shops. When I graduated high school though I started college at a Community college with the intention of following my father into business as a stock broker. A year into that, my dad left the business and went back to school to get his teaching credential and it caused me to rethink my own plan. I had been painting all along and at the time I was showing in a restaurant that did really well so I went to a portfolio review day at the San Francisco Art Institute and applied knowing I would need a scholarship to attend. I had sold quite a few paintings in my show so I took off to travel Europe for a few months, in Valencia, Spain on a Weekly call home I found out that I got the scholarship and could go to SFAI.

    I ask about childhood because I have the impression that we still live in a society in which human beings have to choose too soon what some insist should be what we will do for the rest of our lives. In more cases that I'd like to admit, many don't even have a choice, especially when the phrase "I want to be an artist" appears on the horizon. For you, what is the importance of family and teachers during this process?                                                                     

    A. The deviations in my career path of becoming a working artist happened right after highschool because I didn’t believe that being an artist was really an option. The other time where I flailed was after undergrad and before returning to grad school. In the first instance it was because I lacked the belief that I could do it, the second time was because I lacked the know-how. My family provided emotional support but wasn’t able to support financially but more importantly, I always had mentors that could help get me to the next stage and it is critical to have someone to help you navigate the art world because it can be very counterintuitive and opaque. I’ve paid back by helping young artists to understand how it works. People often have a very false idea of what you are getting into as an artist, especially when you are just getting started. It isn’t just about making the work, you have to network and market your work and manage your studio and document your work, ship or transport your work and so on. 

     

     

    You have a very interesting technique, which combines gesture painting with spray. What is your creative process like and how did you come to the conclusion that this would be your way of communicating with the world?

    Abstract painting got to a point with artists like Robert Ryman where it was about the material object being in the room with you, no illusion, just material honesty, a 1/1 relationship with the viewer that shared the same space. It was about being present. When I think about 2023 I don’t think that is the case anymore, our reality is divided between the physical material and the virtual. While I paint in my studio, avatars of me are interacting in virtual space through social media. My paintings, removed from contexto and physicality, are showing up in social media feeds removed from contexto and scale. To many followers my art is what They see on their screen and not the physical reality and I think abstract painting needs to react to that reality.

    Even though your work is extremely sophisticated, I can see a lot of the world of the street in it. I can easily imagine a skate park full of your colors, for example. Am I wrong, or do you take a piece of the street into your canvases?

    AYou are correct in seeing that, one of my influences is graffiti and street art. I think a lot about how a public wall will get graffiti or tagging and then the owner or city comes out and buffs the wall, because of aging and dirt and perhaps inexact paint color the buff rarely looks the same as the original paint, then graffiti hits again and buff and repeat. At any given moment a snapshot can be taken that tells the history of a small battle between public and private interests, an individual trying to make a mark and an owner or city fighting back. In my own work I compare the mark or brush stroke to be my hand, my signature and the gradients of color to be like the buffing, an anonymous removal.

     

     

    Chris, you have already exhibited your work in several places around the world, including your participation in a group exhibition at the R. B. Stevenson Gallery, but we know that in addition to “traditional methods”, you have also been interested in digital art for a long time. When did you decide to take your work to the NFT format?

    My move to add NFTs to what I do came in 2018 with a company called digital objects, so I was early in the game. To me it fit right in with my ideas about how we experience the world in a mediated way through phones and screens so it seemed a natural fit. I am still very interested in Digital art and web 3 is in its infancy. My interest in technology goes all the way back to my undergrad at SFAI where I double majored in painting and digital media. Painting is a way of making sense of the world around us and even though abstract painting doesn’t have images there are still relationships that are embedded, think jazz or instrumental music, there are no words but meaning can be made through the combination of features. How does abstract painting talk about a world that is so heavily impacted by digital culture? How does viewing the world through devices impact our perceptions? These are questions that I explored on both the virtual and physical side. 

    The advancement of technology has been providing more and more sensory experiences for those who seek more than the look of an art gallery. What do you think about the subject and how do you think it will favor both artists and art lovers?


    Several years ago a friend and art consultant John Wolf curated a really large show in an abandoned hospital. The setting had such an enormous impact on how the work was seen and the relationship that we all have with the health and medical industry. For me it was shortly after the birth of my third child so the work was colored by my recent experience. Had I recently recovered from an accident of trauma the work would have taken on a different outlook. I think in the digital realm there are artists and curators such as Michael Beets with his Here and Now project that are rethinking the context in which we see digital art in really profound ways that offer alternatives to the White box experience. I think this is great because frankly the artworld can be boring at times, don’t get me wrong I love going to shows but sometimes I wish it was a bit more varied in how the shows are put on.

     

     

    In addition to being a great artist, you are also an excellent teacher. To finish our interview, what do you think is the main lesson you can teach your students?

    A tough question because there are so many lessons that I have learned in the art world. I think one of the most important things to learn is that the art world is a social world. Most opportunities come through your friends and peers so when you get the chance to help someone out, do it, put the effort in and oftentimes it will come back around. Be as professional and friendly and as easy to work with as possible, one day a gallery assistant you treated kindly may be curating a show that your work would be a perfect fit for. I’ve seen both sides, I’ve curated shows myself and left out artists whose work is a great fit because the artist is so difficult to work with. 

     

     

    Interview by @lorrainecruzes

    Image Courtesy by @truemanchris