Bernard Chaet: When More is More
by New American Paintings
Contributor: Jenni Higginbotham
May 8, 2012, 8:30 am
LewAllen Contemporary’s
exhibition of paintings by American artist Bernard Chaet (b. 1924)
features work from the 1960’s to the present. Keeping with LewAllen
Contemporary’s penchant for expressive painters, this work is very
formal and concerned almost exclusively with the materiality of paint on
a surface. Known best for his landscape paintings, the subject matter
of Chaet’s work at the gallery includes beaches, sea bathers, rocky
coves, harbors clogged with boats, stormy horizons and a smattering of
still lifes. His work challenges and celebrates the representational
power of paint. A gushy slab of burnt sienna is a cloud on the sea’s
horizon. Oblong slathers of cadmium orange are rocks on a shore.
Bernard Chaet | Rocky Shore, 2006, oil on canvas, 32 x 32 inches, Courtesy LewAllen Contemporary
For over 60 years Chaet has pushed the traditional logic of
representational painting. He allows himself to smush around too much
white—muddy the colors and mix paint directly on the canvas. Some of his
recently completed paintings were begun in the 90’s, so conventional
wisdom such as “don’t overwork it” have little clout with Chaet. His
paintings have a sort of sophisticated clumsiness to them with thick
outlines and bloated forms (imagine Philip Guston painting a J.M.W.
Turner seascape). Their surfaces are substantially built with gobs of
oil paint whipped up like cake batter.
Bernard Chaet | The Sun, detail, oil on canvas, 32 x 38 inches
One particularly successful work is
Burnt Sienna Sky. It is a
simple image of the sea with a billowing burnt sienna and yellow ocher
storm cloud at the horizon. A few chunky rocks lend visual weight to the
bottom of the canvas. Despite the numerous layers of paint,
Burnt Sienna Sky
has a sense of immediacy that belies the time taken to produce it. In
fact, it took him seven years to finish (1999-2006). Taking a long time
to capture a fleeting moment is not unknown to most oil painters, but
Chaet might take it to levels seldom reached. We can only guess how he
knows when he’s finished a painting.
Bernard Chaet | Burnt Sienna Sky, 1999-06, oil on canvas, 30 x 37.75 inches, Courtesy LewAllen Contemporary
Bernard Chaet | Burnt Sienna Sky, detail, 1999-06, oil on canvas, 30 x 37.75 inches
Another particularly commanding piece is a small oil painting titled
3 Bathers.
A testament to Chaet’s long-term love affair with the ocean and its
paraphernalia, this painting was made in 1988. This painting is
selective compared to the excess of most of his work. The thickness of
paint is fairly insubstantial by comparison. The bathers are awkwardly
perched side by side (sardine style) on what appears to be a tilting
chunk of concrete, the horizon of the sea just beyond them. The bathers
are painted in varying shades of yellow ocher with odd raw sienna and
pthalo blue shadows. If you try to bring realistic notions of gravity to
the image, the block of concrete appears as if it might slide backward
at any moment, taking the poor bathers with it. However, the awkwardness
of the composition is as important to the image as the bathers are.
Bernard Chaet | 3 Bathers, 1988, oil on canvas, 14 x 8 inches, Courtesy LewAllen Contemporary
Chaet doesn’t concern himself with representing this world in all its
weight and texture. He represents paint through the subject matter.
Representation is an excuse to arrange paint in a particular way. The
beach scenes and landscapes are appealing in a rather generic way, but
the paint quality is irreverent and indulgent. What keeps these
paintings from being run-of-the-mill is the earnest and unapologetic way
Chaet deviates from the physical reality of his subjects. The subject
is the starting point, and the painting becomes increasingly
self-referential thereafter.
Bernard Chaet | FROM LEFT: Beach Party, 2006, oil on canvas, 8 x10 inches | Provincetown, 2008, oil on canvas, 8 x10 inches | 3 Bathers, 1988, oil on canvas, 14 x 8 inches | Bather, 1968, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches | Bather II, 2004-05, oil on canvas, 8 x 10 inches
View more of Bernard Chaet’s oil paintings
here.
