SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Altman Siegel will present an exhibition of new paintings by Troy Lamarr Chew II. This will be the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

Chew’s most recent series depicts close friends and relatives as “invisible.” In these beautifully painted contemporary portraits, Chew reflects on the various ways in which he and his circle have experienced social and societal invisibility. The works intentionally highlight and elevate the invisibility of their subjects. Each painting is masterfully detailed and carefully articulates its subject with precision, yet the rendered figures are “missing” key information. Any part of the body not covered by clothing is shown as if transparent; skin merges with the colors and textures of its surroundings. These vaporous characters are defined by their circumstances, the signifiers or logos on their clothing, their positions in the workforce, and the cars they drive.

In stark contrast to much of Eurocentric canonical portraiture history, Chew’s subjects have been chosen due to lack of perceived visibility, which is further evident in the theme of hidden labor that runs through the exhibition. The paintings all depict people in their work environment. Although the work speaks to larger issues of visibility and unacknowledged labor in society, these works take on a personal note. They are mostly people working in the background to support the artist’s practice: his mom, the manufacturer/factory owner of his garments for Wetpaint, curators/gallerists/collectors who have supported him, etc.

Chew has experienced the sensation of transparency throughout different eras of his life. Working as a driver in San Francisco allowed him to silently observe, listen, and absorb information he might not otherwise have had access to. In this sense, being perceived as invisible has its advantages. If you are ungraspable, you cannot be caught. You are impervious. If utilized correctly, it can be a superpower.
Chew’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA; Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Cushion Works, San Francisco, CA; CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA; and Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Group exhibitions include Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD; Barbati Gallery, Venice, Italy; Southampton Arts Center, Hampton, NY; Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY; Chapter NY, New York, NY; Kristina Kite Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA; Good Mother Gallery, Oakland, CA; and the Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA. In 2020, Chew was awarded the prestigious Tournesol Residency at Headlands Center for the Arts after becoming a Graduate Fellow at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, in 2018. His painting Too Many Names was acquired by the international foundation KADIST in 2021, and his painting Ask Ya Mama was acquired by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2022.