Dominic Chambers
Exhibition Cromwell Place, London
I met a beautiful soul today.
I was at the preview for Dominic Chambers’s new exhibition at Cromwell Place, Meraki. Chambers caught my interest some time ago with his striking reflective large scale paintings. An American artist born in St Louis in 1993 and with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 2016 and an MFA from the Yale University School of Art in 2019 in painting, Chambers depicts images using the inspiration of the quiet Black lived experience - people reflecting, reading, writing - as well as Black mythology.
In his breaking of hackneyed stereotypes of Black lives as frenetic and street-wise - often depicted by whites - Chambers reminds me of Lynette Yiadom Boakye, whose figurative images of Black people in gentle contemplation, engrossed in intimate conversation or play, dancing ballet, or reclining with pets, are a much-needed counterpoint to cinema images of young Black people in car chases or gangs. After all, so many of us who have heritage in non-European countries are as introspective and fond of reading, thinking, and talking as anyone else.
Chambers came to this perspective from the US, and he also uses the bright, dreamy colours of mythology and imagination. One reason why I could look at his figures for hours is because not only are they so sensitively portrayed, transfixed in their internal world, whether they be mesmerised by books or thoughts, but that the landscape around them is magical, with its Day-Glo colours and surreal landscapes. There is almost something of De Chirico about the unease they can inspire, but it’s a warmer feeling: although unsettling or magical, the landscape seems to embrace and welcome.
At the preview, I pushed my walker across the gallery floor - I’m still unsteady on my prosthetic leg after 18 months of my remaining leg having been smashed. To my amazement, Chambers smiled and waved. You have to have humanity and empathy to meet the eyes of the only disabled person in the gallery and welcome them.
And boy, does he have humanity and empathy. I tell him I adore his work, especially the figurative paintings, such as the boy reading. We discuss reading, and he says how the landscape can change around you while you are immersed. I mention how reading can be a life-saver when you find out others have experienced similar emotions, for example in a dysfunctional childhood, and he immediately comes out with a quote from David Foster Wallace about how reading makes you feel less alone. Foster-Wallace is his favourite writer. I haveloved Foster-Wallace since Infinite Jest was published in 1997, and we talk about how incredible his writing was, and what a tragic loss he was to the literary world. He recommends me his favourite Foster-Wallace book; I recommend him mine.
Sometimes you meet someone and just feel their goodness. So it was tonight. Dominic Chambers is a beautiful person. He also happens to be incredibly talented. Go and see his work. This show doesn’t have many of his gorgeous figures, but the eerie landscapes are lovely, and I could sit watching the reading boy for hours.
Other paintings by Chambers not from this exhibition:
