2018, acrylic on wood panel, 13” x 13” by Joshua Chambers
Shreveport-based visual artist Joshua Chambers wants to offer you, his viewer, an invitation to suspend your disbelief for art’s sake. As an undergraduate at Northeastern State University, in his home state of Oklahoma, Chambers worked in theatre set design, an experience that heavily informed his work. He can take limited space, for example, and make it feel infinite to a viewer. “Everyone agrees that once they enter the theatre, they’re going along with this, and [they] agree to actively fill in the gaps of whatever is being presented on stage,” said Chambers, who teaches talented art students at Caddo Parish Schools. “It’s the same thing I like to do in [a painting] by stripping it down to its bare minimum, and encouraging the viewer to do the same thing you have to do in theatre: agree to the imagination of it all.”
Chambers is fascinated by the long history of people as storytellers and how that role has changed over time. In his use of saturated color gradients, whimsical imagery, and negative space, Chambers’ style invokes a surreal quality. His artistic process is similar to that of an academic: much planning, research, and analysis goes into each piece. His paintings, he said, stem from reinterpretations of moments or interactions in his daily life to a fable-like plane, with recurring eccentric characters and meaning ascribed to every element.
[You'll like: Heather Ryan Kelley's Joycean paintings.]
“There was always something super magical about [art] that I loved when I was a kid,” said Chambers. “I’ve always been a little bit of a daydreamer. My mind wanders a lot, so the work comes from that as well.” That dreamy, head-in-the-clouds element is complemented by a sense of order and repetition in much of the work, as images of animals, rain drops, and embedded text often appear. The choice of text plays an important part in his compositions too, said Chambers, and the phrases derive from snippets of conversation or a book he’s reading, all making their way into his sketchbook. Carved into the piece’s surface, the message is at once glaringly obvious and subtle in its delicacy. Brief phrases such as “we continue,” “idealism helps,” and “love me” riddle his work.
“These objects and things have specific meaning to me, but hopefully the way they’re constructed in the compositions and the way they interact with each other [will create] a narrative with the viewer as well,” said Chambers. He provides you with touchstones to tie a work back to its creator and his oeuvre, but the rest of the interpretation is yours to own and enjoy.
Joshua Chambers has permanent collections at the Masur Museum of Art in Monroe and the Lessedra Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria. Chambers is affiliated with Graphite Galleries in New Orleans, Ann Connelly Fine Art in Baton Rouge, and Agora Borealis in Shreveport. See more of his work at joshuachambers.net.
In October, Chambers will be profiled on LPB’s Art Rocks, the weekly showcase of visual and performing arts hosted by Country Roads publisher James Fox-Smith. Tune in Friday, October 4, at 8:30 pm or Saturday, October 5, at 5:30 pm across the LPB network. lpb.org/artrocks.
