PRESS RELEASE
October 27 – December 10, 2016
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 27th, 6 - 8 PM
Margaret Thatcher Projects is excited to present Spectral Flux, a series of works constructed of luminously painted bars of cast acrylic by Freddy Chandra. In what will be his second solo exhibition at the gallery, Chandra further expands on the ephemeral nature of the moving image, sound, and oscillation. While his works are grounded in the language of abstract painting, Chandra visually and conceptually references scientific notions of timbre, frequency, and spectrum to reflect the inevitable synchronicity of light, color, and noise.
To Chandra, elusive everyday moments such as overhearing a fragment of music only to hear it fade away, observing a lustrous sunset framed by a window, feeling the vibrations and movements of people and vehicles as they pass by, are all fluctuating instances that are experienced and recorded in a seemingly spectrographic way.
To manifest this awareness Chandra structures his work within the confines of a logical and algorithmic process. Color is painted across the surface of the bars in such a way as to create an illusion of depth and an inner light that lends the pieces a lyrical flow. The rectilinear positioning and composition of the pieces implies dynamic movement as the colors vibrate off one another while the luminous bars engage with the negative space of the wall that drifts between them.
Although it is evident that Chandra’s works are grounded in the language of painting, they are simultaneously rooted in the notion of drawing. The physical process of pulling and stretching hundreds of lines across the space directly refers back to the practice of mark-making. In this manner the clarity of structure and drafting, bridges an important relation to Chandra’s background in architecture.
Through experimenting with specific color relationships, value shifts, and dimensional modulations of density and transparency, Chandra makes tangible the act of recognition, recollection and the anticipation to understand the present moment between time and space.
Freddy Chandra studied Architecture and Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley, and obtained his M.F.A in Studio Art from Mills College in Oakland where he is currently an adjunct faculty member. He is a recipient of a 2009 Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and has been awarded various residencies and fellowships throughout the United States. He regularly exhibits work in the US, Canada, Germany and Italy.