About Robert Chapla
Robert Chapla’s current work at the Nash Gallery features Robert’s latest series of paintings, which take as their subject matter the freeway on-ramps to the old and new bridges across the Carquinez Strait in Crockett, Ca. Stylistic emphasis is on colorful edges and the spaces beyond them. Also shown are examples of other series including Hay bales, Cows and Mt. Diablo Slopes. All the work was inspired by the plein air painting experience, then expanded and developed in the studio, often in the process taking on aspects of social commentary.
Midwest born and raised, East Coast educated and long time Bay Area resident, Robert has experienced and enjoyed many landscapes. He has painted, exhibited and taught art in the Bay area for the past 20 years. His painting style is an amalgam of all these influences, with California sun, at times, only a veneer over forms and spaces acquired somewhere between two shores. He begins some paintings on-site, in 'plein air,' not only because of the unique light and ideas a specific setting affords, but also because of the society of people he paints with and meets locally. "It is much about placing oneself ‘out’ there, with the paintings acquiring finish from interior motives realized in the studio." Robert received a BA in Art History from Columbia College in New York, and has, over the years, acquired expertise in sculpture and printmaking as well as painting. He believes that in order to keep our art and lives vital, we must become lifelong learners.
Most recently he has been working with poets in Crockett, and has added verse to accompany both paintings and wood sculptures. A current series of paintings focus on the Slopes of Mt. Diablo – a rhythmic and spatial movement from foreground hills to distant valleys, while another examines stacked 'Hay Bales' – a colorful and nostalgic look at the concept of abundance in the American landscape. Cows, in their dual roles of animating and decimating the local landscapes, continue to find expression in his art, as well as a group of paintings dealing with the high Sierra, especially Yosemite.
Approaches #1 52 X 34 oil on canvas
Approaches #2 30 x 48 oil on canvas
