Fritz Chesnut: Stray Effects
  • Fritz Chesnut’s paintings are fields of action. The LA-based artist builds his works from vibrating moiré patterns and grids that... Fritz Chesnut’s paintings are fields of action. The LA-based artist builds his works from vibrating moiré patterns and grids that...
    Fritz Chesnut’s paintings are fields of action. The LA-based artist builds his works from vibrating moiré patterns and grids that appear torn, aged, decayed. Far from flat, each line is a physical thread. An alchemist of process, Chesnut squeegees paint onto plastic, then cuts and transfers the dried skins onto canvas. The result is tensile, a surface hovering between image and structure, textile and digital screen.

    “Stray Effects,” Fritz Chesnut’s new exhibition, consists of two paintings that suggest both torn fabric and aerial land photography. “I’m interested in structure with the dimension of time. Some sort of event that’s produced something in flux, changing from mechanical to organic.” 

    Chesnut was born in Santa Fe and lives in Los Angeles. He has mounted solo exhibitions at La Loma, AF Projects, There There, and CULT Aimee Friberg, among others. His work has been featured in group shows at White Columns, the Bronx Museum, and recently in “Painting All Together (Painting as Is IV)” at Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker.
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    • Broken Field (cool), 2026 acrylic on canvas 152cm x 122cm (60" x 48")
      Broken Field (cool), 2026
      acrylic on canvas
      152cm x 122cm (60" x 48")
      Enquire
    • Broken Field (warm), 2026 acrylic on canvas 152cm x 122cm (60" x 48")
      Broken Field (warm), 2026
      acrylic on canvas
      152cm x 122cm (60" x 48")
      Enquire
  • Fritz Chesnut

    Fritz Chesnut

    Fritz Chesnut was born in Santa Fe and lives in Los Angeles. He has mounted solo exhibitions at La Loma, AF Projects, There There, and CULT Aimee Friberg, among others. His work has been featured in group shows at White Columns, the Bronx Museum, and recently in “Painting All Together (Painting as Is IV)” at Michael Kohn Gallery in Los Angeles. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker.

     
     
    EDUCATION
    1997  

    MFA, Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University
    1995  

    BA, University of California, Santa Cruz.

     

    SOLO exhibitions and projects
    2026  

    Stray Effects, Cadogan Gallery, Milan, Italy
    2025  

    Field Recordings, La Loma, Los Angeles, CA
    2022  

    Floating Windows, AF Projects, Los Angeles, CA
    2019  

    Test Patterns, there-there, Los Angeles, CA

    2014

     

     

    		  

    Science Fiction, c.nichols project, Los Angeles, CA

    Purr Valley, Cult/Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA

    LAXART façade, Los Angeles, CA
    2013  

    Dark Wave/Phase Transition, 6th Street Mural at the Standard Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
    2010  

    Peak and Flow, Country Club, Los Angeles, CA and Cincinnati, OH
    2002  

    Starstruck, Bellwether Gallery, New York, NY

     

    selected group EXHIBITIONS
    2026  

    Nature of Being, Harper’s Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Marc Dennis (forthcoming)

    2025

     

     

     

    		  

    Painting All Together (Painting as Is IV), Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curated

    by Heidi Hahn and Tim Wilson

    Step and Repeat, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Nancy

    Meyer and John Weston

    2024

     

     

    		  

    Above the Sea and Below the Sky, La Loma Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Kirk

    Nelson and Anastasija Jevtovic

    Sometimes It Snows in April, AF Projects, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Lauri Firstenberg

    2023

     

    		  

    Swell, Manhattan Beach Art Center, Manhattan Beach, CA, curated by Alex Weinstein and

    Eric Brinkman

    2022

     

    		  

    Surface Tension, Sam Francis Gallery, Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, Santa

    Monica, CA, curated by Susan Arena and Elyse Jung-Vrymoed
    2017  

    Summer of Love, Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Justin Cavin

    2013

     

     

     

    		  

    Works on Paper, Inc. Greatest Hits & Selected B-Sides, c.nichols project,

    Los Angeles, CA

    Thinking Like the Universe, K Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA and Hatch Gallery,

    Oakland, CA, curated by Aimee Friberg
     2012    Good Morning Captain, Country Club, Louisville, KY

    2011

     

     

     

    		    Abstract Location, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago IL, curated by John Knuth

    and Matt Distel

    The Gold Rush/Manifest Destiny: La Californie, Public Fiction, Los Angeles, CA, curated

    by Josh Peters and Lauren Mackler

    2010

     

     

     

    		    Animal Style: The New Warrior, Pepin Moore, Los Angeles, CA,

    curated by Drew Heitzler

    Contemporary Impressionism, Art House LA, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Lauren

    McCaffrey and Thalassa Balanis

    2009

     

    		    Potluck, Country Club, Los Angeles, CA, curated by Christine Nichols

    Tribeca Film Festival Art Awards, Chanel Boutique, New York, NY
         

     

    grants and awards
    2014  

    The Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant

    2002

     

    		  

    Nominee, Rema Hort Mann Foundation Art Grant

    Artist in the Marketplace Program, The Bronx Museum of the Arts
    1995  

    Susan Benteen and William Irwin Hyde Scholarship
    1991  

    Santa Barbara Scholarship Foundation Scholarship in Art

     

    Selected Bibliography

    2025

     

    		  

    “Step and Repeat,” Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Exhibition Catalog, Los Angeles, p.

    20
    2024  

    Weinstein, Alex, "Impact Zone. Breaking Everything with Fritz Chesnut,” The Surfer’s Journal, Issue 33.2, 2024

    2019

     

    		  

    Ollman, Leah, Review: “Paintings that read as anything but: The intriguing ‘Test Patterns’ of Fritz Chesnut,” The Los Angeles Times, October 21, 2019
    2016  

    Carey, Brainard, interview, WYBC Yale Radio, museumofnonvisibleart.com

    2012

     

     

     

     

    		  

    James, Chris, Tracing Chaos, Aesthetics in the Surf Zone, X-TRA Contemporary Art

    Quarterly, Volume 14 Number 4, p. 65

    Shaw Michael, "In Conversation, Michael Shaw Interviews Fritz Chesnut," NY Arts

    Magazine, Volume 19 Summer 2012, p. 10-11

    "30 Artists to Watch in 2012," NY Arts Magazine, nyartsmagazine.com

    2011

     

     

     

    		  

    Shaw, Michael, interview "Fritz Chesnut Makes the Leap," The Conversation, an Artist

    Podcast

    Wagley, Catherine, "Busted Open Abstraction: Fritz Chesnut on Richard Prince," New

    American Paintings Blog, October 21, 2011, newamericanpaintings.wordpress.com
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