OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2018
7-10PM

ON VIEW
APRIL 6 - 28, 2018

For more info about available works by Jeff Pfeil, please contact info@stephaniechefas.com

Payment plans are available upon request.

This April, Stephanie Chefas Projects is delighted to introduce Portland based artist Jeff Pfeil in the Gallery Annex with RHIZOME. In his latest collection of work, Pfeil explores the scientific and psychedelic aspects of natural history illustration, re-contextualizing the genre by delving into realms between representation and abstraction. When confronted with Pfeil's striking juxtaposition of disparate elements lifted from natural history prints and diagrams, viewers are challenged to search for connections while simultaneously inferring larger conclusions about the universe itself.

Remaining purposeful but elusive, Pfeil blends abstract shapes and vibrant hues to impart a fluid sense of meaning. Beetle carapaces flatten and become topographical maps of orange rivers and black lakes, or color-coded renderings of bizarre weather systems sprawling symmetrically across a strange continent. As scientific function is translated into form and color, the confining rules of objectivity and accuracy are removed and new pathways of thought begin to emerge. Carefully considered colors facilitate a calm, hallucinogenic investigation of the paintings, which become stand-ins for the world as a whole, encouraging curiosity and reexamination of our environment beyond the paintings themselves.

The opening reception for RHIZOME will be held at Stephanie Chefas Projects on Friday, April 6th from 7-10pm. Stephanie Chefas Projects is located in Portland, Oregon at 305 SE 3rd Avenue on the second floor of the Urban Row building. The exhibition will be on view through April 28th, 2018 and is free and open to the public. 

ABOUT JEFF PFEIL

Jeff Pfeil's work leapfrogs off the backs of classic naturalist painters like Audubon, Catesby, and Seguy, reimagining their scientific illustrations in a psychedelic world that glories the patterns, colors, and shapes inherent in the natural world. Pfeil earned a BFA at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2003, squeezing in drawing classes along the way. His love of drawing and painting reignited in the following years as he began a career in tattooing. Pfeil has participated in exhibitions around the U.S. and overseas, including: Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland. He currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

ARTWORK