NEW EXHIBITION BY CLAUDE CHANDLER: BINARY TRANSCENDENCE

A solo exhibition by Claude Chandler opens on 6 August at the Worldart gallery on Church Street.

The exhibition, titled “Binary Transcendence” will be his first at this gallery.

Chandler (25) was a top 40 finalist in the 2013 SPI National Portrait competition and a finalist in Sasol 2012 New Signatures National Art Competition.

He uses the traditional medium of paint on canvas to produce portrait paintings that resemble digital and binary codes.

“In a world moulded by social and online media, everything has become digitized. These mathematical 1’s and 2’s have become an important platform through which we experience people and information. In a sense, these experiences have become illusions and this virtual transformation forms the basis these paintings. As a child I was fascinated the ability to ‘hack’ computers. To me, this meant that a world could be manipulated and transformed with creativity. Hackers challenge and change the system to make it work differently and function according to their desire. The term ‘hacking’, could then be applied to any field. I describe myself as a ‘Portrait Hacker’.

My process of art making is to modernize the traditional portrait by mechanically etching it into text. The digitized rendition transforms and re-invents the subject. When constructing the portrait the conventional process of paintbrush to canvas is eliminated. I make a stamp by using foam letter cut outs. I assemble a name or word which has a connection with my subject. I continuously stamp and layer the print, working almost ‘blind’ but mindful of structure and tonal values.

The image finally emerges, transformed in a coded and industrialized web of paint.”
– Claude Chandler, Cape Town 2015.

Binary Transcendence opens on August month’s First Thursday gallery night and concludes on 30 August 2015.