OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2025
5-8 PM

ON VIEW
AUGUST 22 - SEPTEMBER 20, 2025

FOR INQUIRES
Please contact hello@chefasprojects.com

PRESS

Chefas Projects is pleased to present Imaginary Language, the third solo exhibition by abstract artist John Vitale at the gallery. With this deeply personal body of work, Vitale invites viewers into an intuitive exploration of abstract painting as a subconscious form of communication—a visual language built not on symbols, but on rhythm, gesture, and emotional resonance.

“Painting, for me, is a spiritual act—an intimate, primal form of communication,” says Vitale. “Every line, shape, and color carries a story. Not a fixed narrative, but a transmission of something emotional: a well-wishing, a cry for help, a quiet prayer.”

Vitale’s process moves beyond expressive spontaneity. His compositions are deliberate and layered—each decision around material, texture, color, and form imbued with intent. The resulting works function as visual puzzles: open-ended yet grounded in emotional truth.

Imaginary Language marks a continued evolution in Vitale’s practice, developed over years of probing the space between conscious creation and subconscious revelation. The work reflects a response to a world that is decaying and self-destructive, yet still powerful, mysterious, and achingly beautiful.

The opening reception for Imaginary Language will take place at Chefas Projects on Friday, August 22, 2025, from 5-8 pm. Located in Portland, Oregon, at 134 SE Taylor Street on the first floor of the Taylor Works building, Chefas Projects invites the public to explore this unique exhibition, which will be on view through September 20, 2025.

John Vitale (b. 1979) is a self taught multidisciplinary artist. His work has been shown in the Pacific Northwest, New Mexico, New York, and internationally in Taiwan and Toronto, Canada. Vitale is a creative director, graphic designer, as well as the founder and creative mind behind The Killing Floor skateboard brand.

ARTWORK

INSTALLATION IMAGES

© CHEFAS PROJECTS
Photo credit: Mario Gallucci