Chase Bisson reception

media release: "Some people leave, and some people stay," 3/1-31 (reception 2-4 pm, 3/16).

Chase Bisson was born in San Diego in 1992, but has spent much of his life in El Dorado County outside Sacramento, California. He has spent time in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, and spent two years between 2016-2018 spending time between Eureka, Portland, and Seattle traveling by bike and bus. Enrolling at the University of California at Davis, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art in 2022 with honors and a Departmental Citation award. In Fall 2024 he enrolled as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison pursuing a Master of Fine Art degree in Studio Art. His work was most recently exhibited at the Backspace Gallery at Echo//Ode in 2024.

Many of my paintings feel like confessions, and I think to make a confession is really a bid for intimacy. To make art, to be an artist, is as James Baldwin put it, “a kind of metaphor, must be considered as a metaphor, for the struggle which is universal and daily of all human beings on the face of this terrifying globe, to get to become human beings.” I make paintings that explore themes of intimacy and the failure of intimacy through the lens of my memory, relationships, community, and a culture at large. Most recently, I’ve been exploring images of my hometown, and the drinking culture that permeated in the area. I’m influenced by artists such as Nicole Eisenman, Alice Neel, and Henry Taylor.