Aftermath: Works by Chris Zahner

Opens Friday February 13, 2009. 5PM-9PM
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday, 10AM-5PM
Saturday by appointment.

Aftermath: The period immediately following a usually ruinous event.
(From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary)

Born in 1975 in Connecticut, Zahner attended the Cleveland Institute of Art for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  He recently moved to Boston after fourteen years in Cleveland. 

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Aftermath is the result of a series of changes in my life, some good and some bad. Each work speaks of a personal evolution, a moving forward and eventually a freedom. Themes of lost love, companionship, struggle, displacement, change and hope permeate each piece. I hope the viewer is able to connect the work to something from their own lives, a personal experience or memory that ultimately unites us to one another.

I work much like a historian; arranging, assembling and recording information. My art supplies come from scouring thrift stores, antique shops and used bookstores in hopes of finding a perfectly aged paper or graphic. Inspiration comes from old love letters, diaries, family photographs, discarded books or greeting cards. The materials I use are meant to tell stories or create scenarios that attempt to visually create the complexities of both the universal and the personal to the viewer.  These ephemera embrace clichés and sentimentality that accompany the process of absorbing a loss, falling in love or other shared life experiences. This connection to the viewer, the collective experiences, the common ground, are the springboard for my work.

Chris Zahner