By excavating the art historical canon for archeological remnants of affirmation and by celebrating friendships amongst contemporary artists, Chandler’s brightly colored hand-crocheted works iconically explore queerness, joyful weirdness and the spectrum of gender non-conforming bodies. Within the artist's practice these artifacts and relationships provide a foundation called 'art family,' which fuels the creation of characters that populate Chandler's 'Queertopia.' Focused primarily on inventing a new kind of figuration in which color is intrinsically linked to process, material and content, his radically queer characters thrive in psychedelic utopias in which the zany and profound reign supreme.
Caroline Wells Chandler was born in Virginia and raised in Texas. He has shown both internationally and nationally and is represented by Roberto Paradise (San Juan, Puerto Rico), Andrew Rafacz (Chicago, IL), Lord Ludd (Philadelphia, PA), and Brand New Gallery (Milan, Italy). Most recently he was awarded a yearlong residency at the prestigious Sharpe Walentas Studio Program. He completed his foundation studies at Rhode Island School of Design and received a BFA in Studio Art cum laude from Southern Methodist University. Chandler received his MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Yale, where he was awarded the Ralph Mayer Prize for proficiency in materials and technique. His next solo project is Orange Sunshine at Andrew Rafacz in Chicago. The artist lives in Queens, NY and is the proud papa bear of his painting and drawing students at Norwalk Community College and Montclair State University.