CHACO TERADA New Work at photo-eye Gallery
Brake, 2021 Archival pigment prints with Sumi ink on silk.
Chaco Terada creates dynamic, beautiful compositions made up of images printed onto silk that are then layered and marked with Sumi ink. This process has roots in the practice of traditional Japanese and Chinese calligraphy, which Chaco has engaged with since she was a small child. The marks that Terada adds to the images are poetic, both in their origin as texts but also in the gestures that the artist uses; her artwork is imbued with a life all its own.
Chaco’s meditative, expansive practice allows her to translate everyday observations into unique, dynamic objects that mimic the experience of feeling in their dimensionality. The artist allows you to step into her world and share in her experiences of love, loss and joy through the dynamism and literal depth of her artwork.
““My work comes from my own experiences of daily life. Every day, I observe how all the elements surround me and interact with my feelings. [When] the time comes I naturally start making artworks.””
When Terada stretches her silk frames, she stretches the world itself. She gifts the viewer a window into her own emotional, interior world. She has built these objects in a way where the depth of the physical image brings you in and allows you the freedom to explore; to try looking from a different angle, in a different light, for longer than you may engage with a flat image on a wall.
To encounter Terada’s work is to encounter an outstretched hand inviting you to be still, take a breath and think for a while, which is something that we all could benefit from, perhaps.
