Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery is extremely pleased to announce that John Chehak has been named as the Gallery’s new featured artist and he will now be promoted by the gallery for the next 14 days in the gallery’s Artist Showcase.
John is an award-winning artist based in Iowa, USA. He was selected as 1 of the top twelve finalists in the gallery’s 32nd Solo Art Exhibition Series. The placement in this competition qualified his artwork to be showcased in this feature.
His Artist Showcase feature will be promoted to hundreds of major news outlets. In addition, the gallery will also be featuring and promoting his artwork in the gallery’s various social media networks for further exposure.
Below are John’s Artist Biography, Artist Statement and 5 of his artworks submitted to this competition.
John Chehak was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He graduated from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy in 1973 and began practicing retail pharmacy in his hometown. By his late forties he felt an urge to explore his long dormant artistic abilities. When he decided to pick up a brush, he knew he wanted paint that would dry quickly, was water soluble - but not watercolors, and did not smell. His medium of choice was, and still is, undiluted acrylic paint on paper and canvas.
After participating in local art shows, he began applying to regional art fairs to see if the public was interested in purchasing his work. His work has been featured on the University of Iowa's website the Daily Palette; in 2002 he was chosen to display his artwork in the Iowa Governor's Mansion. One of his early 'Rooftops' paintings was selected as the January 2010 cover photo for JMCP magazine - a magazine for pharmacists. According to Sheila Macho, Cover Editor for JMCP, 'Chehak's Rooftops painting bears a slight resemblance to a Georges Braque Cubist landscape. The scene, reminiscent of an Italian village, appears to be impossibly crowded, yet believable at the same time.'
In 2015 one of his Iowa landscapes was chosen as banner art for the MFA Creative Writing Program at Iowa State University; in 2016, he finished a show at The Biomedical Research Facility at the University of Iowa Medical Campus. In 2018 he was chosen as the Commemorative Print Artist for the 25th Annual St. Louis Art Fair. In 2020 he was the poster artist for the 57th Street Art Fair in Chicago.
As described on the Des Moines based Kavanaugh Gallery's website: 'His muted colors and distinct choice of subject matter have attracted collectors throughout the nation. Many of Chehak's paintings emerge directly from his imagination.'
My art exists to capture the beauty and rhythm of everyday life, transforming familiar landscapes and urban scenes into bold, modern compositions that invite viewers to pause, reflect, and find harmony in color, shape, and light. My focus is on anything that is in front of me at any given time, of which the subject matter is conducive to bold acrylic paint strokes and monochromatic colors. I do not paint to meet the expectations of any audience. My influences are many, my style is fluid; that is, and I am willing to try numerous presentational production values.
To learn more about John and to see more of his paintings, please visit his website.
Click the Thumbnail to See the Artwork in a Lightbox
