Christopher Chippendale

Christopher Chippendale (American, b. 1951) 

Chippendale works in a modernist tradition of perceptual inquiry and representation based upon the raw data of sight – the world as seen (and translated) as an arrangement of relational color/light sensations prior to the censorial, parsing role of knowledge. It is an approach to painting based more on finding than in making, in perception more than preconception. His paintings reflect an engagement not with the nameable world of objects and things but with the less affable “abstract” world of changing conditions and relationships that he seeks truthfully to portray. Christopher Chippendale has a penchant for the challenge of painting scenes within darkness. This painting, The Carriage House, is an interior view of a cherished studio at that time. The setting is within the carriage house on the property of the Chestnut Hill home of Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Scientology. Chippendale has illuminated the secrets within this forgotten place. Multiple original horse-drawn carriages, lighted only by one window and the opening of the blue door.

From the schoolhouse light fixture down to the concrete floor, a mysterious space is revealed. Two autumn leaves suggest that the carriage house has not been witness to fresh air for some time. New to the season, the broom is ever ready to sweep outside elements away before the door closes again. Read More