Troy Lamarr Chew II Brings the Invisible Into Focus at Altman Siegel
For his latest solo exhibition, the artist spotlights the hidden heroes in his life.
Altman Siegel is showcasing a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Troy Lamarr Chew II, now on view through December 21, 2024. For his second show with the gallery, the Los-Angeles based artist, best known for his realist paintings, confronts Eurocentric traditions of Black exclusion with an iridescent invisibility.
Chew summons a new suite of paintings that reimagine his close friends and family as invisible, bringing a well-deserved spotlight to a cast of unsung heroes. While each figure is composed with assiduous precision, there is something missing: in place of skin is a distorted refraction of their immediate surroundings – the clothes they wear and their places of work.
The series was inspired by his experience as a driver in San Francisco, though it was through this lacking visibility that he realized the “superpower” of silent observation. “If you are ungraspable, you cannot be caught,” the gallery notes.
Many of the figures featured in the exhibition are people whose work fuels Chew’s artistic practice. From portraits of his mother, the manufacturer of his Wetpaint garments, to the curators and collectors who have supported him through the years, Chew brings attention to the fact that it takes a village and the village deserves some love, too.
Altman Siegel
1150 25th St,
San Francisco, CA 94107
