ARTIST STATEMENT Painter and art critic Wyndam Lewis wrote “Art is the expression of an enormous preference.” It seems a preference isn’t something you need to explain or justify. We just love what we love. My preference’s - what I find visually engaging and beautiful, have stayed remarkably stable over my forty years of painting. The morning light on the stark pavement of the L.A. River still takes my breath away. I remain interested in those older parts of cities even as I realize that they are vanishing at ever increasing speed. I have had a few recent visual surprises - who knew swimming pools would become illuminated with L.E.D. lights, that can segue through the entire color spectrum. When an artist chooses to make a painting of a particular place, the message to the viewer is “I find this to be important”. In these places I have chosen, I think the attraction goes beyond the particulars of of patterns of light and dark and color to the emotions these places evoke for me.
In my previous statement I wrote that my paintings “set the stage for viewers to bring their imaginations and private meanings, made special by my selection and attention. Two years ago a group of Santa Barbara poets composed poems inspired by my paintings. The poems and artwork were published in a book titled: “Elsewhere Paradise”. I was profoundly honored and delighted that these talented artists would use my work as a point of departure. They responded to my preferences with ideas and obsessions of their own. I have titled this show “Darkness, Dawn”. It is a show of mostly nocturnes with a few sunrises. The year 2020 has indeed been a dark year, but I hope now in 2021 we are in an emerging dawn.
BIOGRAPHY Patricia Chidlaw received her BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and has exhibited extensively on the West Coast and at numerous art fairs throughout the US. In 2014, she was the subject of a solo exhibition, Realm of the Commonplace - Paintings by Patricia Chidlaw, at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, NV. Her work appears in many private collections and has been featured in THE Magazine, ArtScene, Southwest Art, Artweek, and on KCET. She lives and works in Santa Barbara.
RESUME
BORN 1951 San Francisco, CA
EDUCATION 1973 University of California Santa Barbara, BA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2023 Points of Interest, Billis Williams Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2022 The Pool Show, Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2021 Darkness. Dawn, George Billis Gallery Los Angeles, CA 2020 Elsewhere, Paradise, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2018 The Moving Picture Show, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2016 Departures, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2014 Uncommon, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2014 Realm of the Commonplace - Paintings by Patricia Chidlaw, Nevada Museum of Art, NV 2009 On the Road, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2008 Everything Must Go, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2007 Everything Becomes Electric, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2006 Time and Again, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2006 New Spin, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2005 On Blue Highways, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2004 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2003 Once/Again, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2003 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2002 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2001 Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara, CA 2001 Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2000 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2000 Paintings by Patricia, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 1998 Vanishing Points, Joyce Robins Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 1998 Roadshow, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1997 Vanishing Points on the American Highway, Tatistcheff/Rogers, Santa Monica, CA 1997 Long Distance, Bakersfield College Art Gallery, Bakersfield, CA 1996 Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1994 The Urban Landscape, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1994 Recent Paintings, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1993 Standard Time, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1993 Daylight Savings, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1992 Vanishing Points, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1992 Painting the Town, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1991 A Certain Light, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1991 City Lights, The Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1987 Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1984 Santa Barbara Portrait, Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2023-23 Water by Design (group show) Nevada Museum of Art 2020 The Cityscape Show X, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2019 The Cityscape Show IX, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2019 Masterworks, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2018 The Cityscape Show VIII, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2017 The Cityscape Show VII, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2017 Masterworks, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2016 The Cityscape Show VI, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2015 The Cityscape Show V, George Billis Gallery LA, Los Angeles, CA 2014 The Cityscape Show IV, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2013 The Cityscape Show III, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2013 Palms Springs Art Fair, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012 The Cityscape Show II, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2012 San Francisco Art Fair, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2012 Featured Artist, Lotusland Benefit, Santa Barbara, Ca 2011 The Cityscape Show, George Billis Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2011 Five at Eleven, Sullivan Goss, Santa Barbara, CA 2011 San Diego Art Fair, Koplin del Rio Gallery, San Diego, CA 2011 Cityscapes, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2011 Small Works, Hespe Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2010 Urban Light, Marcia Burtt Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2007 Stilllife Show, Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA 2007 The Urban Myth, Sullivan Goss Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 2007 Oak Group Show, Palm Loft Gallery, Carpenteria, CA 2007 Westmont Still Show, Santa Barbara, CA 2006 Urban California, California Art Club, Pasadena, CA 2005 Trains and Trees, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2004 Windows: 4 Views, Terrence Rogers Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 2004 The Political Landscape, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2003 Santa Barbara After Dark, Fielding Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA 2002 Painting the Santa Clara Valley, Ventura County Museum of Art, Ventura, CA 2001 Chinatown, California Art Club at Hong Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2000 In the Eye of the Beholder, Terrence Rogeres Fine Art, Santa Monica, CA 1999 California Style - Contemporary Urban Scene, CA Heritage Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1997 Two-Person Exhibition, Reynolds Gallery, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA 1996 After Midnight, Tatistcheff/Rogers, Santa Monica, CA 1996 Summer in Paradise, Easton Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1988 Four Californians Working for Life, Arpel Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1984 Landscapes, The Art Corner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA 1981 Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA 1981 Inner Light, Cabrillo Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA 1980 7 from Santa Barbara, Cabrillo Arts Center, Santa Barbara, CA 1979 Arts Festival Invitational Exhibition, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, CA
PRESS KCET, High & Dry: Interpreting the California Desert Landscape With Patricia Chidlaw, Sept. 9, 2014 UNIVERSE OF Patricia Chidlaw, THE magazine LOS ANGELES, January 2009. Illustrated. Christensen, Judith, Review, ArtScene, December 2008, Illustrated. Mahler, Richard, Pool Party: Six California Artists Talk about their Attraction to Swimming Pools, Southwest Art, July 2004. Illustrated. Zone, Ray, Review, ArtScene, December 2004, Illustrated. Gangelhoff, Bonnie, Vanishing America: Patricia Chidlaw Finds Beauty in California's Nostalgic Urban Scenes, Southwest Art, January 2002. Illustrated. Palladino, D.J., Out of the Past, The Santa Barbara Independent, August 22, 2002 Woodard, Joseph, Insights from the Sidelines, Santa Barbara News-Press, Aug 16, 2002. Illustrated. The Angels Beckon: Santa Barbara Artists Emerge in L.A., The Santa Barbara Independent, July 12, 2001. Illustrated, cover and inside. Christensen, Judith, Review, ArtScene, February 2000, vol. 19, no. 6. Illustrated. Pulkka, Wesley, Contemporary Realism: A New Twist on Tradition, Southwest Art, March 2000. Roth, Charlene, Review, Artweek, March 2000. Illustrated. Carpenter, Gerald, The Santa Barbara Moment, Santa Barbara Magazine, Winter 1995. Illustrated.