My work is rooted equally in the language of geometric abstraction and in the temporal nature of the moving image. Applying acrylic paint on Plexiglas panels, I repeat, pair, overlap, reverse, and re-sequence ensembles of chromatic areas and seamless shifts of lines and values. These works are rhythmic compositions of discrete frames in which the relationship between parts inherently informs the logic of a continuous whole. These wall-based installations—from the modestly scaled to the panoramic—use the structure of filmic space to link the concrete and the atmospheric through a sequence of encounters. With shifts in color temperature, light and shadow, and structural geometry, an appearance of movement is created within stasis, and a fleeting rhythm resonates in an abstracted stream of information. I try to make tangible the act of recognition, recollection, and anticipation, driven by a desire to understand the present moment in the space between attentive perception and the peripheral subconscious.
FREDDY CHANDRA
b. 1979 Jakarta, Indonesia
EDUCATION
2004
MFA, Studio Art, Mills College, Oakland, CA
2002
BA, Architecture & Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2012
Art in Embassies Program, US Consulate, Surabaya, Indonesia
2010
Nominee, SECA Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
2009
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant Nominee
Artist in Residence, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA
2008
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant Nominee
2007
Artist in Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2006
Kala Art Institute Fellowship Award & Residency, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2004
Herringer Prize for Excellence in Studio Art
2003
Catherine Morgan Trefethen Fellowship, Mills College
2002
Eisner Prize in Art, University of California, Berkeley
1997
Regents' Scholarship, University of California, Berkeley
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2004-2017
Adjunct Faculty, Mills College, Department of Art, Oakland, CA
2004-2005
Summer Session Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley. Department of Art Practice
LECTURES
2007
Expressive Textures, Headlands Center for the Arts, with experimental composer Hubert Ho.
Freddy Chandra & Su-Chen Hung, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018
In Open Spaces, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2016
Slipstream, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Spectral Flux, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2015
Interstices, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Tuning In, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2012
Drift Expanse, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Synthetoc Resonance, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York
Coalesce, Fabbri Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy
2010
In Place of Equivalence, Galerie Bernd A. Lausberg, Duesseldorf, Germany
Verge, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Listening Sequence, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
2007
Fugitive Horizons, Project Space, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
Residency Projects I: Three Minutes from Now, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Where Things Begin: 10 American Artists of the Asian Diaspora, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023
Pump Up the Volume, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022
The Vernacular of Abstraction, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Anglees, CA
2021
In the Groove: Persistance and Endurance, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2020
30th Anniversary Exhibition, Brian Gross Fine Art, San Francisco, CA; exhibition catalog
2018
In This Together, Embracing Diversity, curated by Sagi Refael and Brenda G. Williams, Castelli Art Space, Los Angeles, CA
2017
Spectral Hues: artists + color, Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA
With Liberty and Justice for Some, Walter Maciel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016–18
Art in Embassies, United States Embassy, Panama
2016
A Star Is Born: Ten Years Later, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Newton’s Prisms, Cypress College Art Gallery, Cypress, CA
Precision: Freddy Chandra, Brian Wills, Patrick Wilson and Richard Wilson, Southern California Art Projects and Exhibitions I SCAPE, Corona Del Mar, CA
2015
Seeing Time, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Fields of Abstration, Galerie Du Monde, Hong Kong, China
Interstices, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013
New Year 2013, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2012
Surface Tension, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2011
White-Hot, Margaret Thatcher Projects, New York, NY
2010
Beyond Painting, Lausberg Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
Identity Based Vertigo, Walter Maciel Gallery, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, CA
Inspiration Unlimited, Walter Maciel Gallery, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, CA
2009
Metaphysical Abstraction, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA. Curated by Jamie Brunson and Michelle Mansour
Ri | Generazione Astratta, Fabbri Contemporary Art, Milan, Italy
2008
The Space Between, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
Pattern reDefined, Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition: Counterpoise, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA
SELECTED PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS
Art in Embassies Collection, Surabaya, Indonesia
Alameda County Art Collection, Oakland, CA
Neiman Marcus, Los Angeles, CA
Capital Group, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Morris, Barbara, “Freddy Chandra ‘Slipstream’ at Brian Gross Fine Art”, Art Ltd, Jan-Feb 2017.
Hoover, Justin, “Fields of Abstraction”, exhibition catalog, Galerie du Monde, September 2015.
Cheng, DeWitt, “Tuning In”, East Bay Express, February 2014.
Baker, Kenneth, “Tuning In”, Sfgate.com, January 2014.
Hallard, Brent, “A Reflection of the Synthetic”, Visual Discrepancies, September 2011.
Kluth, Mary Anne, “Listening Sequence,” Shotgun Review, October 2009.
Cheng, DeWitt, “Metaphysical Abstraction,” East Bay Express, October 2009.
Levy, Mark, “Metaphysical Abstraction,” Exhibition Catalogue, October 2009.
Cebulski, Frank, "The Space Between", Artweek, June 2008, vol.39, Issue 5.
Selz, Peter, “Compositions of Space and Light”, Berkeley Daily Planet, June 22, 2007.
Van Proyen, Mark, “Close Calls: 2007 at the Headlands Center for the Arts”, Artweek, March 2007.
Baker, Kenneth, "Nice surprises at this year's Emerge," SF Chronicle, November, 2005.
Helfand, Glen, “Introduction to the Master of Fine Arts Exhibition at Mills College”, May 2004.
