Paul Chandler began his art career after receiving his MA in Fine Arts from UNM in 1987. He has devoted his life and art to the exploration of the American Southwest. As a painter, he became increasingly intrigued with the transitional relationship we have to the landscape as we move through it, and has sought to manifest that journey in his work. Always searching for a sense of journey through the landscape, rather than destination, he has settled upon a concept model called “projects” that require the viewer to move through the image not unlike the way we pass through a landscape. Each project consists of separate panels (as few as three, but as many as twenty or more) joined together thematically but not always physically. The authenticity of plein-air painting has been foundational to his joie de vivre. In his travels to each location, he employs not only a vehicle but often relies upon skis, chair lifts, or even a hand-dolly to get around with his traveling studio. Never one to rely on photographs, Paul will often visit each motif four or five times before finishing the ensemble in his home studio. His use of negative space offers the viewers pause to reflect upon what is included and what is omitted. These pieces invoke one’s passage through a landscape and provide for the visual and physical interaction between the viewer and the imagery.
Contact Paul at: Paul@paulchandler.org
Ph: 505.260.0090
Keeping it Real On Location
