Somehow, journeys to the American Southwest kick-started aerial landscapes of what I experienced on the ground in Pueblo, Colorado. The flat, relatively depressed neighborhoods seemed saturated with human drama, both joyful and disappointed. Re-creating a loose memory allowed infinite space to observe what surfaced to inhabit the internal stage. After the notorious events of November 5th, I left civilization, figuratively, in a meditative quest that led me to forests and seasons past, and an alter ego, The Misanthrope Edgar Benson, emerged to act out my ruminations. Don't ask me to explain it—but the metaphorical journey has provided me with solace, as I hope the crafted imagery will for anyone looking.
Throughout my career, I have turned to small, even miniature works for reasons difficult to explain—the brevity of engagement with each allows their intensity and urgency, and the exploring of many scenarios in a compressed time frame. The urban images arrived after a road trip to the Flatlands of Southern Colorado; the "Misanthrope" suite after the election. The former imagined views of rough neighborhoods and claustrophobic cities passed through; the latter an alter-ego elegizing for a lost world. - Chester Arnold
This new selection of miniature works by Chester Arnold is a special encore of his beloved 2020 "curbside" exhibition (featured in KQED Arts).