John A. Chakeres

(b.1952; resides Columbus, OH)

Walking through the streets of Marbella, Spain, John A. Chakeres was captivated by the intensity and clarity of the light in this town on the Mediterranean. The square color pictures in his Spanish Walls series are lush and saturated, though their hues run from the subtle to the dramatic. A direct and even gaze maintains the geometry of these planar surfaces, just as it draws attention to the textures of each wall. Bricks, ledges, flaking paint, and torn poster scraps are recognizable but abstracted, patterns of light and color, and the exact scale of the pictures almost always ambiguous.

John A. Chakeres was born July 22, 1952. He received a BFA from Ohio University in photography and printmaking in 1977. Recently his work has been exhibited at McKissick Museum of Art in Columbia, SC; Art Gallery in New Orleans, LA; Kennedy Museum of Art in Athens, OH; and Columbus Museum of Art, MPX Gallery, and Mid-West Photography Gallery in Columbus,OH. His pictures have been published in the books D’Art Objects: A Collaboration with Mary Manusos and Traces: An Investigation in Reason. His work is also in the collections of Monterey Museum of Art; Tweed Museum of Art; International Museum of Photography, George Eastman House; Friends of Photography; Library of Congress; University of Virginia; Ohio University; and Hera Art Foundation. Chakeres has taught in the Graphics Communications Department of Columbus State Community College since 2000.