Chuck Tingley, “Stream”, March 23 – May 5, 2018

Exhibition Catalog, Chuck Tingley and Mizin Shin

“Working on something uncurated, unconventional, and unstructured allows me to explore the process with a sense of immediacy and intimacy as I delved into the visual world of my own personal nostalgia.” – Chuck Tingley Stream is a highly personal work; the product of rediscovered family films, revisited journal entries, and reinterpreted private histories. Tingley began this project as a diversion from his nearly two consecutive years of commercial work while grieving the sudden loss of his father. The exterior of the installation is constructed like a childhood fort, seemingly tacked together from familiar furniture and well-used bedding; the smiley face sheets, furry brown armchair, and dusty plastic ficus tree seem to have been transported from some universally familiar family room.

Tingley draws the visitor into the artwork, where dangling holiday lights and muffled audio recordings of family celebrations pull the viewer deeper into a fully immersive experience. The full interior of the installation functions as a 360 degree screen upon which Tingley has projected his memories. Expressionistic panoramas give way to recognizable imagery: a drive-in movie marquee, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and family portraits all provide a pause – a place for connection – amidst the swirling color. The paintings subvert any logical timeline, and instead invite the viewer to travel through the tunnel of Tingley’s stream of consciousness, exploring the humorous, mundane, and even absurd aspects of life.

Chuck Tingley holds a BFA in Painting from SUNY Buffalo State. A native of Buffalo, he relocated to Lockport, NY in 2013 and currently maintains a studio in Buffalo’s Larkin District. Solo exhibitions of Tingley’s work have been held at the Olean Public Library in Olean, NY, El Museo Gallery, and High-Temp Fabrication in Buffalo. He has also been included in group exhibitions at the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the Erie Art Museum in Erie, PA. He has been awarded public art commissions by Artpark in Lewiston, Glow Gallery in Buffalo, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. In 2016 he was honored by Arts Services Initiative of Western New York as a Finalist for the ‘Artist of the Year’ Spark Cultural Award, and in March of 2018 his portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appeared on the cover of Condé Nast magazine.