Artist Statement
Born and raised in Phoenix, Chris Czaja makes paintings, drawings, and prints. He earned his BFA in Drawing from Arizona State University in 2015 and received the Good ‘n Plenty Artist Award from SMoCA in October 2015. He co-founded Blushing Soup Press, which specializes in producing small-run artist’s books and other unnecessary ephemera. In addition to maintaining a dedicated studio practice, Czaja teaches visual arts to 4th-8th grade students.
Czaja uses art to play at the absurdity of everyday life, saturating common images with bad jokes. His playful approach to color and structure engage beauty in a purposefully clumsy manner. Czaja draws inspiration from visual artists like Katherine Bradford to kooky songwriters like Jonathan Richman. Recently, his paintings have been a window into the unfortunate incidents of his characters. These incongruent narratives make Chris laugh, and he hopes that you do too.
Instagram @chrisczaja
