A Positive Conversation with Srijon Chowdhury

Srijon Chowdhury in his studio in Portland, OR, 2024, Photo by Aaron Wessling.

Srijon Chowdhury (b. 1987) was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and lives and works in Portland, OR, where he and his wife Anna Margaret run the exhibition space Chicken Coop Contemporary. He holds a BFA from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, MN, and an MFA from the Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA. He has been awarded grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, 2018; Regional Arts and Culture Council, 2018; Andy Warhol Foundation, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Calligram Foundation, 2017; and the Otis Governors Grant, 2012. In 2017, he was awarded the Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artists Fellowship. Chowdhury has presented solo exhibitions at Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Foxy Production, New York, NY; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; SE Cooper Contemporary, Portland, OR; CFA Live, Milan, Italy; France; and Ciaccia Levi, Paris, France; among others. His work has been included in group shows at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, CA; Et al., San Francisco, CA; Franz Kaka, Toronto, Canada; Chapter NY, New York, NY; Deli Gallery, New York, NY; White Columns, New York, NY; Nir Altman, Munich, Germany; the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, CA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; among others. Chowdhury’s work was recently showcased in the 2024 Artists’ Biennial in Portland, OR. Concurrent with his co-curation of the Frye Art Museum’s group exhibition Door to the Atmosphere, the institution held Chowdhury’s first solo museum exhibition Same Old Song in 2022, coinciding with a publication of the same name.

UZOMAH : Could you share the personal experiences that have inspired your artwork, particularly in the context of creating a universal narrative from the everyday? Has this source of inspiration evolved over time, especially as your work increasingly explores the boundaries between physical reality and the metaphysical?

SRIJON : The first painting you see even before entering the gallery, from the street and through the window, depicts the birth of my daughter Inez. My wife Anna looks like St Theresa in Ecstasy. We had a water birth in the middle of our living room. When Inez came out of the water she was crying with the tiniest voice. I wasn't expecting her voice. To have a whole new person with their own voice in your arms… We live in a world that is so magical, something as mind blowing as birth is quotidian. You don't have to look far or hard for the metaphysical, it's all around us.

U: Your use of vibrant colors and detailed imagery creates a unique and immersive experience for viewers. What guides you to the moment when you decide what to depict on the canvas? How do you balance between highly stylized techniques and uncanny realism to achieve this?

S: Since the births of my children Inez (6) and Kahlo (4), most of my ideas for paintings have crystallized in the thousand or so hours I have been laying in bed next to them waiting for them to fall asleep. I didn't do a good job of sleep training them haha. But it's ok, it has given me time to think about the day, the books i've read, movies i've watched, paintings i've seen, etc… and it all edits itself down to an image, some of them I have edited in my mind for years before finally physically painting, but all that time thinking is part of the painting. My style is the limits of my ability. To paint realistically I rely on light and shadow, and lately i've enjoyed hyper focusing and exaggerating the lights and shadow. While it may seem surreal, it's my best attempt to show what I see in the flesh, the drapery, and the grass.

Imagining a world without art, what role do you think you would find yourself in? How would your perspective on life and the universe differ if you weren't able to channel these reflections and stories through your art?

I have a degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota. I have always loved the idea of going out, meeting people, discovering a story, and writing a long feature that grows from many hours and years of interviews and experience. It is so hard to understand other people, but great journalism and great art can help us get closer to each other.

U: William Blake's poetry clearly resonates deeply within your work, as seen in the "sigil fence" in your current exhibition. What aspects of Blake’s literary themes speak to you most profoundly? How do you go about transforming these elements from his poetry into visual interpretations in your pieces?

S: Blake spoke to angels his entire life, his words are literally divine. I use sigil magic, an old form of magic that turns sentences into symbols. My symbols very loosely follow the rules of sigil magic as I turn Blake’s poems into the gates of my exhibition.

Srijon Chowdhury Mother & Son , 2024 oil on linen 48 x 36 ins. 121.9 x 91.4 cm

U: When creating your artwork, do you consider a particular audience, or do you aim to evoke universal themes and emotions? Can you share some memorable reactions or comments from viewers that have stood out to you, particularly those that may have surprised or deeply moved you?

S: I think about how paintings work on people: their scale, their color, and their subjects. I like to think about the architecture of the space my paintings will be shown in. How people will move through it. That is another reason for the sigil magic, another thing acting on the viewer that they move through and activate. In 2016 I showed a series of blue paintings with Deb Klowden Mann in LA. There was a woman who had spent a bit of time with the paintings, she said she liked them but wondered if I ever thought about painting representationally. I kind of laughed and walked her through a few of the paintings showing her my friend and family that were painted representationally in each painting. Because of how blue the paintings were (I had mixed out about 50 different blues on my palette), she couldn't see the people. The color made them invisible. My intention with the works had been to force a physiological change in my eye to make the painting, and that then the viewer’s eye would also have to make that change, and then we would inhabit a slightly changed world together. Not everyone wants or can do that. Maybe nobody wants that haha.

U: What does being a successful artist mean to you personally? In your view, is there a specific way to measure success in the arts, or is it more about personal fulfillment and artistic expression? What are the key objectives you strive to achieve through your art?

S: Success means that I am pushing myself to do something that I couldn't before. I hope to make something lasting before I die.

U: From your perspective, what makes art compelling? How do you believe your works resonate differently when viewed through the lens of an artist versus an onlooker?

S: Art is compelling when it comes from somewhere honest. The artist and viewer both use art to gain a new understanding. For the artist, the thousands of hours of labor are more important than the final result. For the viewer they can quickly take what they need and leave the rest.

Srijon Chowdhury Andreas with Wildflowers , 2024 oil on linen 72 x 60 ins. 182.9 x 152.4 cm

U: Your work is rich with art historical references and often incorporates themes of religion, myth, and symbolism. How do you integrate these elements to construct a narrative that is both coherent and visually intricate for your audience? How do you achieve a balance between historical reverence and contemporary relevance?

S: My wife tells me I'm incoherent all the time. I have to trust that if I am honestly drawn to many things, then through me they can distill into something singular that makes sense. One of my goals is to describe what it feels like for me to be alive right now. My paintings must address contemporary feelings or there would be no point for me to be making them. I'm not nostalgic for another time. I love art history and I love science fiction, but my paintings are about the present. This is a present that has so many feelings that I don't have words for.

U: Is there a specific environment or material that is integral to your creative process? How does this setting or medium influence the transition from inspiration to creation, particularly when addressing themes of mysticism and devotion?

S: Being able to have time to think is the most valuable thing I have. The quiet hours as I paint and before I sleep open many doors to me.

Srijon Chowdhury Justin at Latourell Falls , 2024 oil on linen 48 x 96 ins. 121.9 x 243.8 cm

U: Your latest exhibition, 'Tapestry,' showcases a fascinating interplay between natural life and personal history, such as the depiction of the cherry tree in your backyard against a backdrop of wildflowers. How do you see these natural elements and personal symbols reflecting broader human experiences or emotions? How did you approach merging these motifs to convey such dynamic and poetic visual narratives?

S: I would never claim to be able to speak to universal experience. But just as we all were born, I think we also all notice the changes of season, and maybe we all even have a favorite season. Every year I wait for my cherry tree to blossom: I don't want to waste the 10 days it is blossoming, I mourn as the last flowers fall, I wonder if I enjoyed it as much as I could have, should have, I resolve to be better next year under the cherry tree.

For more information about Srijob’s artwork, please visit his website and also follow him on Instagram. His latest exhibition is featured in the magazine and can be found here.