Acrylic on Board Painting Signed L. Chief

Description

This painting by Chief features a simple and minimalist background comprised of small crosses and long, bamboos-like tubes eschewing conventional … more This painting by Chief features a simple and minimalist background comprised of small crosses and long, bamboos-like tubes eschewing conventional styles and using folk art, graffiti, and visionary elements to create an expressive aesthetic.
In the centre is a bright pink female body celebrated as always in all other works of Chief- its luscious overflow and the exaggeratedly traced curves from the shoulders to the chest through the buttocks are particularly visible.
But is it really a woman or a female-looking deity? Let's look at her face: her angel wings protrude from her ears - framing a central eye - possibly referencing the eye of Horus, the Cyclops, or Norse mythology. In The Norse pantheon, the chief God Odin was renowned for his wisdom and intelligence. He is said to have sacrificed an eye in order to gain insight into the mysteries of existence, making him even more powerful and wise.

Chief does not only tell stories but gives us some clues: directions, shapes, characters, colours, symbols, and references that invite everyone to create their own narrative interpretation.

Chief, a contemporary American painter belongs to a non-elitist movement at the crossroads of the free figuration of Robert Combas, the surrealism of Juan Miro, and narrative figuration as found in some pieces of Erro. The pseudonym "Chief" was likely chosen by the painter to express an independent spirit and a desire to break away from any established conventions or rules within the art world. He is reclaiming ownership over how he defines himself, affirms his profound freedom, crafting an unapologetic image of who he is as an artist, reinterpreting all influences he took from those different art movements, defying traditional boundaries, and exploring creative limitless possibilities. This declaration not only reveals his deep sense of liberation from any rules but also serves as a powerful reminder about embracing individuality in an increasingly conformist world in a form of popular art, accessible to all, which plays on spontaneity, playfulness, dreamlike, simplicity, and letting go. His paintings are within everyone's reach, yet they are filled with hidden symbols and motifs, in broad black lines and delimiting shapes and spaces, distorting figures using bright colours. The spontaneity is chiselled, the playful is spiritual, and the dreamlike is metaphorical.
Chief does not only tell stories but gives us some clues: directions, shapes, characters, colours, symbols, and references that invite everyone to create their own narrative interpretation. less