The Guerneville Goose

Shooting Gallery is pleased to present The Guerneville Goose, a solo show by Paul Chatem of kinetic paintings, crafted from reclaimed wood and acrylic paint, which invite interaction. The opening reception will be Saturday, January 11, from 7-11 pm, and the exhibition is free and open to the public for viewing through February 1, 2014.

Paul Chatem is known for an illustrative style rooted in the grit and color of folk art, yet reminiscent in character of the early animation of Max Fleischer. Heavy in reds, yellows and browns, Chatem’s characters, a cast of bedraggled depression era workmen and dustbowl survivors, seem to occupy a world set aflame. Perilous scenes are brought into motion through painted wooden gears. Each turn of the hand-cut, interlocking cogs makes it clear that the figures isolated in burning landscapes can only commit the same missteps again and again. In this way, Chatem’s work achieves a loose parable effect, strengthened by the recurrent imagery of characters chasing or being chased by a goose who may or may not lay the proverbial golden egg.

Inspired by ceremonial, funerary and ritual masks, all the characters that appear throughout The Guerneville Goose are hiding their true faces. “The last couple of years I’ve been traveling around California working odd jobs. Being away from home, constantly feeling like a stranger in each new town, it was easy to lose a sense of identity,” Chatem explained. “The paintings in this show represent the idea of chasing something new, getting lost in the process, and finding something out about oneself that was never expected.”