James Chronister b. 1978, Montana, US

James Chronister paints deeply intricate, monochrome paintings. Though landscape in concept, Chronister's spectral hues and cropped forests proffer tension between abundance and its representation rather than the idyllic and unaffected scenery of canonical landscape painting. Chronister begins his process by photographing the environment surrounding his home in Missoula, Montana. After digitally distorting contrast, focus, and tones, Chronister moves from computer to canvas where minuscule individual marks reveal scrupulous technical application. Onto a white or carefully hued off-white background, Chronister meticulously recreates source photographs by repeatedly applying, shaping, and erasing black oil paint. Precise dry brushing and stippling techniques achieve texture, depth, and refinements of form. The result is a unity of marks presenting veristic, all-encompassing scenes of the natural world.

James Chronister (b. 1978, Helena, MT, US; lives and works in Missoula, MT, US) earned his BFA (High Honors) as a University Scholar from the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana, Missoula, MT, US in 2001 and his MFA (with Distinction) from the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, US, in 2004. Chronister was awarded the Fox and Miles Scholarships while at the University of Montana and the Richard K. Price Scholarship while at the California College of the Arts. In 2013, Chronister was awarded the Artist-In-Residence at the ICA San Diego in Encinitas, California, which was accompanied by a survey of his work from the years 2009-2013. Chronister was nominated for the SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2010 and 2018. In 2020 Chronister was a recipient of the Bay Area Visual Artist Production Relief Grant from Evergold Projects, San Francisco. Chronister has been a visiting artist at the California College of the Arts, the ICA San Diego, Montana State University, and the San Francisco Art Institute. Public collections of Chronister's work include: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, US; Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, CA, US; San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, CA, US; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA, US; San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA, US; Nion McEvoy Family Collection, San Francisco, CA, US; Paul Wattis III Family Collection, San Francisco, CA, US; Howard Tullman Family Collection, Chicago, IL, US; Morgan Stanley Art Collection, New York, NY, US; Berkenstadt Family Collection, Miami, FL, US.