Noir: Larry Chait

Free and open to the public

Opening Reception:Saturday, December 1, 5-7 p.m.

Conversation with the Artists: Thursday, December 13 at 7 p.m.

Larry Chait’s Noir series represents a synthesis of his love of film noir and of Georges Seurat's black conté crayon drawings from the mid-1880's. According to Chait, "Seurat's drawings are blurry, dark, mysterious and very photographic in the sense that they contain almost no visible contour lines; shapes are defined entirely by changes in tone."

To create his series, Chait used images that he appropriated from old photos, TV shows, movies and photos by and of himself. In many of the images, he made himself the protagonist. Sometimes he donned disguises to "thwart and confuse his enemies." 

Chait also developed a procedure in Photoshop® to mimic the look of Seurat's drawings, down to the type of textured paper that the artist used. As a final homage to Seurat, Chait drew on his prints with black conté crayon.

To see more of Larry Chait's photo-based art, go to www.larrychait.com.