Modular Shifts
Chris Chandler
8/22/2022 – 12/16/2022
Dengerink Gallery, VDEN Building
Modular Shifts, Relief print installation, 18′ x 10′, 2022
Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery
“Modular Shifts is a series of prints based on the construction and deconstruction of modular type. I use the Vandercook 232P letterpress machine, Alpha-Blox & Futura Schmuck woodcut fonts to combine shapes, letters, words and phrases and then abstract them through rearranging, tearing, wheat pasting, layering, and shifting. The simplicity of breaking the alphabet down into its most basic elements allows for a seemingly endless combination of shapes that appeal to my analog self.” – Chris Chandler
Left: Fade-Out, Variable relief print, 11’x54.5″, 2022
Right: AB043, Monotype relief print, 2022, 48″x48″x2″, 2022
Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Fade-Out (detail)
Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Chris Chandler founded Neu Haus Press in 1996 after he acquired his first Vandercook Press in Venice Beach, CA. Through the years his love, talent, and knowledge for this vintage craft has grown — inspired by pioneers of graphic design like master typographer Jan Tschichold, Bauhaus, Constructivist El Lissitzky, and the Expressionist painter and printmaker Erich Heckel.
In addition to his printmaking, Chris spent 30 years working as a tour manager and sound engineer in the music industry. He has had the privilege of sharing his passion for letterpress with a variety of musicians, leading to intimate collaborations and the opportunity to print their work. Making his home in Portland, Oregon with his wife and two children, Chris has been able to expand his studio and printing portfolio. He is represented by Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR.
This collection of work exhibits how Chris takes advantage of his Vandercook 232P with a 30” x 32” printing bed to recreate and experiment with the 1943 Alpha-Blox font in large form in order to push the limits of letterpress.
Left: The Space Between Us, Monotype relief print, 48″x48″x2″, 2021
Right: AB039, Monotype relief print, 2021, 48″x48″x2″, 2022
Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Makeready, Monotype relief print, 26″x26″, 2022
Courtesy of the artist and Elizabeth Leach Gallery