About jack chester
"my style is my artistic identity"
Welcome to my official site! Thankyou for taking the time to learn more about me as an artist and explore my artworks. As an artist I have developed many creative interests and explored many mediums in my pursuit to express a unique perspective of the would around me. To describe who I am as an artist, I would say that my style is my artistic identify. You could walk into any gallery and know one of my paintings by it’s unique and consistent style; regardless of subject matter.
For a long time I resisted my natural painting style longing to develop my skills in fine art and realism, but that never happened because my passion isn’t in hyper realism. Embracing my unique perspective and technique has been the catalyst for creating momentum on my journey as an artist. If I could give anyone advice about becoming an artist, I would say that finding your signature is the key. Being an artist is about creating an expression that lets the world in on your point of view.
My painting style uses a dense saturation of color, simple shapes and black outlines to produce vibrant and engaging cartoon like paintings. I’ve always loved the Australian cartoon art of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, the stuff you’d find in pub murals etc. I’d say my style could be likened to that of Wendy Feifar Nannup or Australian Cartoonist David Green. I currently work with acrylic as my preferred medium for painting, but I do dabble in oil and watercolor and I hope to explore these mediums more in the future.
Jack Chester
Whilst painting has been my main love, I cannot neglect to mention the other mediums I have been creating with. Pottery was a chance discovery, which I fell in love with after visiting my local pottery shed in Longreach QLD. I found that I have a passion for vases and other vessels that I can add embellishments to. Some of these have been floral and coral elements. It’s fun having a vase that looks like it is an artifact from another world.
Digital art has been enjoyed through the use of Procreate and I enjoy the clean lines I can achieve, whilst still honoring my organic style. Very rarely will you find a straight line in any of my work. I think the appeal with digital art is that programs are forgiving and you can undo work you don’t like or even make a copy and go down the rabbit hole with an idea, whilst still having your original untouched if it doesn’t work out. A lot more planning has to go into physical mediums, because once a decision has been made, you’re mostly committed to it.
Sculpture is a relatively new venture. Whilst I am no stranger to this, I am yet to establish myself in this space and I look forward to sharing this progress with you. My favorite medium for sculpture is using recycled paper to create a pulp mixed with binding agents like glue and then using this to mold my subject. I have used this technique to create 3D free standing sculptures in the traditional sense, but also have used paper pulp on canvas to create textured pieces that blend the realms of painting and sculpture.
The inspiration for the subjects of my artworks come from many sources, and you can see this in the almost compartmentalized themes of my pieces. I love gardening and plants and this is one of my favorite subjects to capture. My mind is still yet to make sense of how plants can always posses such structured perfection in their growth patterns and still maintain balance in their abstract forms as they grow towards the sun. Landscapes are also another favored subject matter of mine. I enjoy capturing a narrative in landscapes that are relatable, but not necessarily explicitly articulated. An example is the roads out here are very straight and at sunset if there is a car coming it can sometimes be this emotional dance between enjoying a picturesque sunset, whilst having an underlying anxiety of being ready to flick your high beams off and be on your side of the road when that car eventually comes. The flat landscape means we can see an approaching car 10 minutes away without any way of really knowing if it is just there or indeed far away. Whilst there is not a specific commentary to this subject matter, it is something many can relate to and is probably never spoken about explicitly.
Working as a psychic, spiritual influences also play a large part in my inspiration. A majority of people may not know, but no two psychics work the same, using different senses and skills to do their work. For me, my psychic abilities lie in the visions I receive and often it is in this ability that I am able to see the spirit realm and understand abstract concepts through the visual allegories I am given in my minds eye. Reproducing these visions as art pieces has been a great source of joy, because I am able to share a mental thought with people who may not have the same abilities or access to see what I am seeing.
Another source of inspiration for my art is found in gay and queer culture. As a gay man, I have always identified with the flamboyant, satirical, camp, outrageous and fun creativity of this world. From a young age there was a knowing that these things were for me and as an adult I have enjoyed my experiences of LGBTQ+ clubs, drag shows and queer content and media that continually inspire me in what could be best described as a continual revelation of who I am. Whilst this work has not been my most public, I look forward to sharing these expressions as my artistic journey continues.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about my as an artist and now that the reading is out of the way, please continue to my gallery to explore and enjoy art works I have had the pleasure of creating.
Cheers
Jack Chester