Fritz Chesnut: Floating Windows

Exhibition Details

"Floating Windows" – February 19 to April 2, 2022

Opening Reception: February 19, 6–8 PM

Location: 7503 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles

AF Projects presents Floating Windows, an exhibition of process-driven abstract paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Fritz Chesnut. The show features a series of works that continue his material exploration, developing an evolving abstract language where bands of color and line suggest shifting forms and imagery.

Material and Process

Chesnut’s paintings are characterized by fields of color overlaid with intricate patterns. Each piece begins with a flat canvas, where he applies a base layer of paint. Using various tools, he introduces lines, grids, and dots before spraying paint in multiple directions, creating an illusion of depth. The interplay of highlighted ridges and shaded recesses gives the paintings a three-dimensional quality.

By tilting the canvas and allowing gravity to guide the flow of paint, he disrupts the surface, causing the sprayed layers to drift, break, and warp. These organic movements result in compositions that appear as frozen snapshots of dynamic events, open spaces interrupted by scattered debris, smooth fields fractured by unpredictable forces. The work evokes the formation of terrestrial landscapes, often described as topographical, alien, and apocalyptic, a synthesis of man-made and organic elements.

Artistic Influences

Chesnut’s work draws from diverse influences, blending the precision of minimalism, the optical effects of Op Art, and the atmospheric qualities of the Light and Space movement. At the same time, his approach is deeply informed by Xerox art and the raw, experimental aesthetics of DIY punk culture, embodying a distinctly West Coast sensibility.

About Fritz Chesnut

Born in 1973 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fritz Chesnut currently lives and works in Los Angeles. He earned his BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1995 and his MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in 1997.

He has held solo exhibitions at There-There and C. Nichols Project (Los Angeles), Country Club (Los Angeles and Cincinnati), CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions (San Francisco), and Bellwether Gallery (New York). His work has been exhibited at venues including LAXART, Public Fiction, and Pepin-Moore in Los Angeles, White Columns and The Bronx Museum in New York, and Andrew Rafacz in Chicago, among others.